Pittsburgh

The Coro Fellowship in Pittsburgh is a full-time, nine-month, experiential learning program in systems change.

The process of leadership involves both reflection and action. Leaders are highly effective at identifying and then intervening at leverage points in systems in order to solve systemic problems. As actors in the very systems they are seeking to change, leaders must also be highly effective at diagnosing and intervening in themselves. In the midst of action, leaders have to be able to reflect on their own attitudes and behavior to better calibrate interventions into the complex dynamics of an organization or community. 

Weekly Seminars introduce skills, tools, and strategies for intervening in self and system. Utilizing placement experiences as a learning laboratory to implement seminar learning in real-time, each week’s session builds upon the knowledge, skills, and experiences of the cohort as they progress. 

Issue Days, Topic Weeks, and City as Classroom Sessions focus on diagnosing the systems that shape community issues. Fellows work together as a group to use interviews, site visits, and other forms of structured dialogue to explore topics from a variety of perspectives and levels. Topics have included housing, transportation, workforce development, infrastructure, education, agriculture, labor, and electoral politics. Fellows engage with various community leaders and subject matter experts to explore the leverage points where they can make change in the system.

Community-Based Group Projects focus on investing in our communities. A project is capacity-building when it expands an organization’s capacity to accomplish goals and achieve desired results, which may be realized after the Fellows complete their work. Projects give Coro Fellows the opportunity to co-design system interventions and collaborate with various organizations to implement and learn from the project.

Coro also connects Fellows with a network of mentors, often Coro alumni, who fulfill a variety of functions, including:

• Helping participants take advantage of opportunities for professional development.

• Guiding participants to see their strengths and navigate obstacles.

• Supporting participants in developing and implementing their group projects

Time Commitment – The Fellows Program in Public Affairs is a full-time program with nine months of rigorous training and activity, from August thru May. As such, it can be taxing for Fellows to maintain additional employment outside of Coro while participating in the program.