and we're off...

Starting up a program which has been in hiatus is not an easy thing to accomplish, but this is proving to be a lot of fun...and certainly seems to be something that is receiving a lot of positive attention from the universities being contacted. The Coro program is a leadership development program designed to train tomorrow’s leaders. It was created in San Francisco in 1942, by two businessmen who saw a need for community leaders to have broader experience. The name Coro is not an acronym; but a word invented by the founders, intending it to have its own meaning. Civic leaders brought Coro to Kansas City in 1975.

Coro currently offers programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, New York, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, in addition to the Kansas City Summer Internship. Coro is a private nonprofit and non-partisan, for- credit, educational program offered in partnership with The Center for Leadership at Park University’s Hauptmann School for Public Affairs. Kansas City’s program is a “mini-version” of the Coro Fellows program which has received national recognition, and is named by the Princeton Review as one of America’s top ten internships. The Princeton Review notes: “Whiz kids have the Odyssey of the Mind competition and aspiring public servants have the Coro Fellows Program.”

The purpose of the internship is to develop future community leaders through exposure to community issues, leadership development, civic leaders and organizations. The program is demanding, full time, and requires an interest in public affairs. Each intern completes 5 weeks of classroom skill instruction and is assigned week-long individual internships in business, government, labor, media, and nonprofit organizations.

Coro is funded by corporations, foundations, labor unions, the Coro board of directors, alumni, alumni parents, selection day judges and civic organizations. No government funds or United Way money is involved.

The twelve interns are each paid a stipend of $1,000 for the ten week program and Park University awards 3 hours academic credit for completing the program, including course assignments.