The Pittsburgh region’s economy has outperformed that of the nation as a whole throughout the recent recession. Despite our region’s remarkable transformation over the past thirty years, however, people and places have been left behind and Pittsburgh is not the ‘most livable city’ for everybody. In order to bounce back from economic decline, communities need more than financial resources and a strong market position. Communities need to nurture leadership and foster networks of civic engagement and trust. In communities that are highly engaged, connected, and trusting, people find jobs, start businesses, spread information, and solve problems with others much more easily than in communities where such connections are absent.

Coro seeks to build networks of people who are committed to meaningful change in communities and capable of shaping new practices that…

• Connect people to one another and build trust across silos of age, race and sector.
• Generate new narratives that build people’s confidence that they can get things done by working together.
• Enable people to manage conflicts in a productive way.

In the summer of 2015, Coro Pittsburgh launched a new strategic plan. The purpose of the plan is to sustain world class leadership training programs while realizing a deeper impact in economically vulnerable communities. We will take three actions in order to be more deliberate about who we recruit for Coro programs and where those individuals learn leadership skills.

 

1. Emphasize multi-year partnerships in three economically vulnerable communities over the next five years: Wilkinsburg (began Aug 2014), McKees Rocks (began August 2015), Homewood (begin August 2016)
2. Provide a wide variety of residents in partner communities-whether economic development professionals, educators, entrepreneurs, social workers, engineers, artists, or politicians- with access to the Coro training. Over multiple years of recruiting and training leaders, build a critical mass of citizens who can work together to accelerate the revitalization of the community.
3. Challenge Coro Fellows and Public Allies to lead collaborative projects that benefit the partner communities.