In 2014 Coro Pittsburgh celebrated our 15th year providing developmental, networking and collaboration opportunities for leaders who share a commitment to civic engagement. We are honored to have helped over 2000 people to grow personally and professionally while catalyzing hundreds of collaborative initiatives in the arts, economic development, education, housing, transportation, health, and the environment.
On the heels of this milestone, the Coro board of directors launched a strategic planning process to explore how we can build upon our past successes to position Coro to create a deeper, more sustained impact in local communities. There are over 200 distinct communities in Allegheny County. While some are thriving and growing, others are struggling to remain viable within a rapidly changing, more interconnected world. We believe that Coro’s methods of experiential leadership development can be put to productive use in supporting locally-driven change initiatives in economically vulnerable communities.
After a year-long process of interviews, focus groups and planning sessions with over 100 Coro alumni, staff, board members, funders, partner organizations, and other Coro centers, we formally launched our 2015-20 strategic plan this summer. Our mission of developing and advancing ethically-grounded leaders remains firm. But we are committed to realizing a deeper impact by making more deliberate decisions about where we develop leaders.
Coro will continue to offer full-time professional leadership programs and part-time community leadership programs for open enrollment. But there are three main differences in how we Coro Pittsburgh will operate:
First, we will establish 5-year partnerships with five communities in the next five years (5-5-5). This long-term partnership model is essential to our ability to realize a sustained impact. Our first two partner communities are Wilkinsburg and Sto Rox.
Second, our NEXT Neighborhood Leaders program will become the fulcrum for leveraging Coro’s assets to support partner communities. Rather than ending the program after one year, as we have in the past, we will support participants in the coming years and work with them to find others in the community who want to participate in training, networking and collaboration opportunities.
Third, our partner communities will serve as “proving grounds” for those engaged in Coro’s full-time professional leadership programs: Coro Fellows in Public Affairs and Public Allies Pittsburgh. What this means is that participants will be exposed to work assignments and group projects inside partner communities where they will put their leadership to the test while helping to build local leadership capacity. What the Fellows and Allies accomplish each year will provide a legacy for participants to build on in subsequent years. We believe that the opportunity to learn through experience within the context of a long-term partnership of this type will make Pittsburgh a choice location to participate in one of these national programs.
To be sure, as we throw ourselves into this new plan, Coro will learn a great deal and will find ourselves testing new ideas in both how we develop people and how we position those people to strengthen communities. But our basic commitment to this plan, and to our partner communities, is unwavering. It is a sign of maturity of the Coro organization and dedication of board, staff and alumni, that we are making this shift to a more sustained engagement in local leadership development. In a future post I look forward to sharing some of our metrics and the results from our work.