Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MYD Officer Application
2011
To be voted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at the MYD General Meeting
Applications will be available on gomyd.com for the membership to view on Jan 11
Must be a 2011 dues paying member
Please submit to president@gomyd.com by Friday, January 7, 2011
Name: Michael Marcantonio
EMail: Marcantm8@gmail.com ; health@gomyd.com
Occupation: Legal Assistant, tutor, teacher
MYD events attended in 2010: Too many to name
Please answer the following questions. Brevity will win you points with voters.
1) What is your vision for the Manhattan Young Democrats for 2011? Give some
concrete examples of initiatives you would like to undertake before the end of the
year.
I believe that success in MYD primarily consists in our presence felt throughout Manhattan,
which must flow from strength in numbers. Thus recruitment must be the primary goal of
our organization. I am convinced that with my leadership as an officer, we could increase
MYD numbers by twofold. It is obviously important to hold discussions and events and
write policy papers, but if we remain a relatively small group, none of what we say or do
will matter. We must increase recruitment for MYD, and I have several great ideas for how
to accomplish this.
For one, we must become a more inclusive organization. Too much of the organization is
run and dominated by a few overwhelming voices, many of whom are not always
completely right in their views on politics, and could benefit from having a more diverse
club. We must liberate the members of MYD by giving them a stake in the club. This cannot
be accomplished simply by sending an MYD member to an IOC committee meeting; many
members want to have a large audience to talk politics with, and don’t have enough time to
go to a small group.
We must “sell” MYD better, by constantly “advertising” what we can do for young people in
the city, as well as by inspiring people to continue to be involved in politics. I feel like this
point has been lost over the last year. I have seen many members come to our meetings for
the first time only to never return, in part because they grew bored by how mundane and
unimportant the meeting felt to them. Too much of the MYD meeting consists in rattling off
different events going on in the city, information that could be easily ascertained in an
email. We need meetings to be lively discussions about different members’ views on issues
and the direction of the club. We need to make meetings resemble political rallies, and have
our political rallies resemble less like formal meetings.
2) Why do you think you’re a good fit? Please list relevant experiences you would
draw from and strengths you could bring to the position you are running for.
I believe I am a good fit because I bring a lot of passion, experience, and vision to the
organization. I also believe I am a good fit because I will bring a diversity of views to the e‐
board. If given a larger stake in the club, I am confident I could convince many new
members to come to our meetings, and if given the chance to help reshape our meetings, I
could help them stay. I also believe that, as one of the more progressive members of MYD,
my views would serve to make the e‐board more open to different, diverse views. My
experience as an IOC chair for the last year has demonstrated that I bring a different
perspective to MYD, one that serves to spark discussion and debate, which are always
healthy for democracy.
3) Serving on the executive board of MYD is a significant time commitment. How
committed will you be as a member how would you be able to fit your leadership
responsibilities within your current schedule? Please list your commitments outside
of your employment (i.e. leadership positions in other clubs).
I have a full time job and I tutor for the LSATs, but none of this should be affect my ability to
commit a significant amount of time and energy to furthering the goals of the organization.
4) What 3 (three) issues would you consider most important to New York?
1. Campaign Finance Reform
2. Social Justice for the poor (specifically poverty reduction and equal education)
3. Job opportunity
6) MYD is a specialized political group. (We’re young and left leaning). How can this
be used effectively to implement change using social media?
Social Media is one of the best tools to spread information quickly and effectively to a large
audience of (primarily young) like‐minded individuals. Any goals we as an organization
decide to pursue can be bolstered by effective social media implementation.