Building civic leaders
Coro develops civic leaders by immersing them in rigorous, experiential, community-based leadership training. Coro Fellows are empowered to work effectively across sectors, catalyze systems, and accelerate positive change.
What is Coro?
Since 1973, the Coro Fellows Program has equipped emerging civic leaders in the St. Louis region with the resources they need to understand how decisions are made, how complex policies are shaped, and how to influence meaningful change. Using the community as a classroom, Coro Fellows learn through interactions with private, public, and nonprofit decision-makers and work as a group to develop critical thinking, analytical, governance, and leadership skills. Coro Fellows join an unparalleled community of engaged alumni and leave the program with an understanding of how our region works and with the knowledge, skills, and network to make it better.
A Legacy of Leadership
Coro’s National History
Coro was founded in San Francisco in 1942 by W. Donald Fletcher, an attorney, and Van Duyn Dodge, an investment counselor, to train young veterans in the leadership skills necessary to assure that our democratic system of government could more effectively meet the needs of its citizens. Since 1947, (when the first program was delivered) Coro has grown to include centers in five cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. Over 1,000 participants a year go through Coro programs nationwide and Coro boasts over 10,000 program alumni currently serving as leaders in local, regional and national/global businesses, nonprofits, labor unions, governmental agencies and elected public office.
Coro in St. Louis
The Danforth Foundation helped establish Coro in St. Louis in 1973. Initially called the Coro Midwestern Center and later renamed to Coro Leadership Center-St. Louis, Coro operated as a separate 501(c)3 nonprofit organization until 2011, when it merged with FOCUS St. Louis. From July 2011 through June 2019, FOCUS operated the two Coro programs: the Fellows Program in Public Affairs and Women in Leadership, a part-time leadership development program for mid-career women. FOCUS’ decision to discontinue full-time programming led a team of local Coro Fellows alumni to convene an Alumni Transition Team and work to re-home the Coro Fellows Program in the St. Louis region. To date, the Fellows program in St. Louis has graduated over 500 highly-capable, engaged civic leaders who work in a variety of private and public sector roles and hold elected office.