CorrespondenceFebruary 4, 2021Yang for New York
Coordinating a CUNY student forum with Yang for New York
In February 2021, when I was Executive Vice President of the Queensborough Community College Student Government Association, Hilary Kinney reached out via LinkedIn from Andrew Yang's NYC mayoral campaign about a virtual forum between Yang and CUNY student leaders. Hilary was advance lead and chief of staff for Yang for New York at the time; she had previously served as associate communications director and deputy national press secretary on Yang2020. The exchange below and the work that followed are kept here as they happened.
The reach-out
Hilary KinneyFebruary 4, 2021, 7:40 PM
Hi Victor!
I'm reaching out from Andrew Yang's mayoral campaign. We are planning to bring together CUNY student leaders for a virtual meeting with Andrew to discuss issues facing students and his policy proposals and vision for the city.
Would you and potentially other student leaders at Queensborough CC be interested in attending? I have already reached out to Arnab, so I am hoping I can get in touch with one of you!
Thanks so much for your time and consideration. Hope you are staying safe and well.
Best,
Hilary
Routing it through QCC
I replied within hours, the same evening. Hilary had said she was already in touch with Arnab, so a live signal back from QCC mattered if the campaign was going to keep us on its list. I also wanted to move whatever followed off LinkedIn and onto an institutional channel. Sending Hilary to my college email did both, and meant the SGA executive board could be brought in once the details came through.
Victor KianiFebruary 4, 2021, 11:45 PM
Hey there Hilary!
Thank you for reaching out regarding this opportunity.
Additionally, please, send my wishes of a speedy recovery to Mr. Yang, and send details regarding the aforementioned opportunity to my work e-mail: vkiani@qcc.cuny.edu
Once again, thank you, and I hope that all is well with you too.
Sincerely,
Victor Kiani
Confirmation, the next morning
Hilary KinneyFebruary 5, 2021, 1:28 AM
Hi Victor! Thanks for the quick response. I'll send event details your way via email.
Thanks also for your well wishes for Andrew! He's quarantined in his kids' bedroom. He hopes to get back on the trail (safely!) soon.
Look out for an email with more info. Stay well and take care!
What I did from there
The email landed in my QCC inbox soon after, and I brought the opportunity to the SGA executive board. The plan was a virtual session with Andrew Yang on issues facing CUNY students and his policy vision for the city. From there it was the work the executive board had to take on for an opportunity like this: deciding who from QCC would attend, what we wanted to put in front of the candidate, and how to brief our representatives so the conversation would be substantive rather than ceremonial.
Coordination continued by email from there. The meeting was eventually cancelled before it ran. The follow-up email thread is no longer in my hands; the LinkedIn exchange above is what survives in writing.
Andrew Yang lost the Democratic primary for Mayor of New York City on June 22, 2021.