Thank you for celebrating 50 years of Coro in St. Louis

Written By Coro at UMSL

Alumni from every decade of the Coro Fellows Program in St. Louis joined together to celebrate the program’s impact. Norm Eisenberg, a member of the second class of the Coro Fellows Program in St. Louis, shared more about his time as a Coro Fellow with UMSL Daily.

Thank you to everyone who joined in the celebration of Coro’s half century of impact in the St. Louis metro area. Here’s what the weekend looked like…

Eight young adults stand in front of a small crowd. One holds a microphone and is speaking. There are two gold balloons next to them that read "50" and a slide is projected behind them that lists Coro Memories submitted by attendees.

The current class of Coro Fellows opened the Welcome Reception on Friday, October 18th at UMSL’s Grand Center location.

Welcome reception

The celebration kicked off on Friday, October 18th with a welcome reception hosted by the current Coro Fellows (Class of 2024 - 2025).

Speaker Leah Moser stands at a podium that features a sign with the location name ("Delmar Divine"). The audience sits at classroom style tables in front of her.

Leah Moser, Coro Fellows Program Director, offers a WIGO (What’s going on) with Coro St. Louis presentation.

WIGO with Coro & St. Louis seminar

The weekend activities continued with a WIGO seminar for Coro Fellow Program alumni and former staff. Attendees heard from seven leaders from across sectors in St. Louis:

  • Leah Moser, Planning and Operations Lead at UMSL’s Community Innovation and Action Center; Coro Program Director

  • Natalie Self, Coro Class of 2010, Senior Vice President of Equitable Economic Impact at Cortex Innovation Center

  • Ben Johnson, Coro Class of 2005, Senior Vice President, Programs at BioSTL

  • Megan Green, Coro Class of 2006, President of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen

  • Geoff King, Vice President of Strategy at Greater St. Louis, Inc.

  • Brittany Jones, Coro Class of 2019, Senior Program Manager at St. Louis Integrated Health Network

  • Maxine Clark, Chief Inspirator at The Delmar DivINe; Founder, Build-a-Bear Workshop; CEO, Clark-Fox Family Foundation

50th anniversary celebration

To wrap up the weekend, the Coro community joined together at an evening event in the Cortex Innovation District. Jared Boyd, (Chief of Staff of the St. Louis City Mayor’s Office and Pittsburgh Coro Fellows Program alum) presented a Proclamation naming October 19, 2024, “St. Louis Coro Fellows Program 50th Anniversary Celebration Day” in the City of St. Louis.

The next 50 years

As shared at the Saturday evening event, there are a number of ways you can support Coro as we embark on the next 50 years in St. Louis. Let’s work together to continue the Coro legacy:

  • Sign up to be an interviewee for Fellows

  • Host placements or focus week activities

  • Help us recruit future classes (locally as well as outreach to future STL residents!)

  • Advise on the program’s future growth and sustainability through the Coro advisory board and otherwise (email the Coro at UMSL team at coro@umsl.edu)

  • Donate to support livable stipends for future Coro classes, key staffing, and robust programming. An anonymous donor has gifted $10,000 to jumpstart a new campaign to support Fellow stipends –add your gift today!

Coro at UMSL
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