Model City Council Planned in the Fall

Model legislatures that offer students hands-on experience in the very halls—and seats—of power are a time-honored American tradition. Marking the latest of many collaborative projects between the City University and the Board of Education, the first ever Model New York City Council is being planned for late this fall.

It is expected that the Model Council, which is being developed in cooperation with the City Council’s Youth Services Committee, will provide intensive training seminars to 60 College Now students from the five boroughs in such civics-based areas as public speaking, argumentation, critical thinking, and the dynamics of compromise. Concluding the Model Council in mid-December will be a floor debate and vote conducted in the Council Chamber at City Hall.

The planners of the Model Council will be taking a page from the design of the highly successful Model New York State Senate, created by CUNY’s Rogowsky Internship Program, which has been in operation for several years in Albany. Use will also be made of a variety of training materials generated by Baruch College’s School of Public Affairs. These were used last year when the School offered training to the large class of freshman City Council members created under new term limit laws.

College Now—initiated in1984 under CUNY/BOE sponsorship with support from the State Legislature—is a program designed to improve academic skills among high school students in preparation for success at the college level. Now reaching all 17 of CUNY’s undergraduate campuses and 200 high schools, College Now enrolls about 30,000 students.