Announcing: The 2025 NYC June Primary Bootcamp

Level up your political influence. And have fun doing it!

Some people join fitness bootcamps because they want to kickstart their fitness. Some people join resume-writing bootcamps because they want to take the next step in their careers.

You’re joining the NYC June Primary Bootcamp because you want to boost your political influence. And have fun doing it!😀

There’s a spectrum of political engagement—the least engaged person will never register to vote while the most engaged citizen makes it their fulltime job or runs for office. If you read this substack, I’d guess you’re in the top half. You vote in every major election. You like being informed about local news. But you might not know who your State Assembly person is. You might not have ever submitted a public comment to a city agency.

Wherever you are on the spectrum today, your goal in this bootcamp is to move up a few notches. Level up your political influence. June Primary Bootcamp is here to make it fun and make it a community so you’re not doing it all by yourself.💪

Sign up here!

Instructions

NYC June Primary Bootcamp is free for anyone to join. I’ll organize some things, but like any bootcamp, you have to put work in to see results. Here’s how it works:

• See below for a list of Bootcamp actions. All actions are worth points, some more than others.

• When you complete an action, you get points. And you get prizes for getting points. You don’t get additional points for doing the same action multiple times.

• I’ll start posting everyone’s points every week, starting April 14 and through June 14.

• Once you reach 70 points, you get a prize and an invitation to the awards ceremony in June.

• The people with the top 3 amounts of points win bigger prizes.

Over the next few months, I’ll host regular meetups to celebrate progress and learn from each other. The awards ceremony in June will be the culmination of the bootcamp— the big party at the end where we highlight everyone’s wins.🎉

Bootcamp Actions

There’s lots of ways to grow your political influence. Getting informed and sharing what you know is the best place to start. Think about it: how do you make decisions about who to vote for? You follow the recommendations of people you trust. This bootcamp is setting you up to be one of those trusted people. Your friends should be asking you: “who should I vote for for Comptroller?”

Learn

• 5 points for signing up for your community board’s newsletter

• 5 points for signing up for your city council member’s newsletter

• 5 points for following both your city council member and state assembly person on social media

• 5 points for using the city council legislation search to find the bills that your council member is sponsoring (hint: click Advanced Search)

• 5 points for subscribing to one new local or state news outlet (suggestions here)

• 10 points for forming an opinion on an office that’s not mayor

• 10 points for attending a community board meeting

• 10 points for sharing this substack with someone

Build Community

• 10 points for creating a Whatsapp group of 5+ neighbors (how-to guide here)

• 20 points for inviting neighbors over for pastries / happy hour / informal hangout (how-to guide here)

• 30 points for starting a weekly potluck/picnic/basketball game that includes neighbors (how-to guide here)

• 20 points for planning a fun meetup supporting a mutual aid group

• 30 points for planning a volunteer day (e.g. trash pickup, park cleanup)

• 30 points for starting a newsletter for your building/ block

• 10 points for making a new friend at a local standby (gym, church, coffee shop, park)

• 10 points for reporting something to 311 (e.g. noise, rats, issues with a bike lane)

• 10 points for reporting something to the MTA via WhatsApp (e.g. There’s needles in this station. Here’s a picture.)

Influence Politics

• 10 points for registering to vote by June 14– your form must be received by June 14, and don’t wait til the last minute in case you need to mail it in. (instructions here)

• 20 points for reminding 5 more people to register to vote by June 14. One way to make this easy is to just share with the WhatsApp group you created with your neighbors…

• 10 points for joining a local civic group (some suggestions here)

• 20 points for attending an event through that civic group

• 20 points for attending a June Primary Bootcamp event

• 20 points: Tell a candidate why you’re voting for them. Use any form of communication: Call them, snail mail them, DM them, go to their office in person.

• 30 points: Volunteer on a political campaign ( read about what to expect when volunteering on a campaign here)

• 20 points: Pick a race that’s not mayor. Tell 5 friends what it is and why they should care. One way to make this easy is to just share with the WhatsApp group you created with your neighbors…

• 30 points: Send out your voter guide. Your voter guide should include a rundown of who you’re voting for in the primary and why. I don’t care how many people you send it to or how you send it. But at least some of your audience must live in NYC (email template here).

• 40 points: Host a fundraiser for a candidate or civic group (here’s how)

• 10 points: Attend a fundraiser for a candidate or civic group

• 50 points total: Get an ongoing text conversation going with your city councilperson. Or at least make sure they know your name. You get 50 points if you do that via any method. If you don’t know where to start, you can rack up the 50 points by following these steps:

  • 10 points: Reshare an article or post via any platform (e.g. Threads, Instagram, Twitter) and tag your council member (my example here).

  • 20 points: Email your council member and CC their chief of staff, introducing yourself, sharing an issue you care about, and asking if they’d be willing to chat. Your introduction to yourself should include where you live and what you love about your neighborhood. Share a neighborhood issue that gets you in the gut: why do you care about it? Ask for a meeting. A coffee. A walk. A phone call.

  • 20 points: take a selfie with your city council member and share it on any social media

Add your own

Submit an idea I haven’t thought of and I may just give you extra credit! Put your own interests and skills to work here– you might be an artist, or bilingual, or a parent– apply the frame of “learn, build community, influence politics” to your unique context.

Where do I sign up?

Sign up here. The Bootcamp doesn’t officially launch until April 14, which is exactly two months before early voting.

If you sign up early, you can begin completing Bootcamp actions right away and getting points– you just won’t be able to log your accomplishments until the official launch on April 14. Try to keep some “proof of completion” if you can, like a screenshot or photo!

Save the date for a Bootcamp Launch Party on April 14! Venue TBD— hit me up if you know a great spot for a party.

Sign up here!