What's a Coro Fellow?

The question I most dreaded while I was in the Coro program was--

So what do you do?
Me: (internal sigh) I'm doing a fellowship in public affairs.

Oh, at what school?
Me: I'm not in school.

So this is an internship?
Me: No, it's professional work experience. Coro is an experiential learning and leadership training program.

Do you get paid?
Me: Um... no.

Oh. And where are you again? Philly?
Me: No, I'm in Pittsburgh.

Oh. (awkward silence) So why Pittsburgh of all places?
Me: (What is this, Larry King Live?) Uh...cuz that's where the fellowship is?

Ha! Right! ... So how do you like Philly?
Me: Pittsburgh, Larry. I'm in Pittsburgh. And I like it fine. Thanks for asking.

[end]

So what did I actually *do* for nine months? A lot of things for one, but much of which I either don't want to explain or would rather forget. It was a very good learning experience, I wouldn't be in Australia if it weren't for Coro, yadda, yadda, yadda, but the truth of it is that it's exhausting to describe the program. Some people would just leave it alone at that, but for those who are dying to know more, I'll try to paint a picture of what it was like being a Coro Fellow.

First - if you ever see a large herd of 15 twenty-somethings dressed in business suits running after buses or roaming downtown with backpacks, computer cases, and notepads in hand, those are Coro Fellows. If you ever see a 1950s newsboy selling "Community Threads" magazines on a street corner, that's also a Coro Fellow. And if you see one Fellow, the other 14 are not far behind.

That person dropping off a yard sign by your front door a week before local elections? Coro Fellow. That young person shaking Mayor Bob O'Connor's hand and posing with Governor Ed Rendell for a photo op? Coro Fellow. The person on the phone asking for an interview with your executive director? Coro Fellow. That person wearing an "I heart Pgh" t-shirt whom you pay the cover charge to enter a club? Coro Fellow. Those people you swore you didn't invite to your fundraising party and are drinking your wine and eating your cheese? Take a guess. Coro Fellows. We were fuckin' everywhere.

We interviewed community leaders. Schmoozed with politicans. Worked on group and individual consulting projects. Planned events. Fundraised money for a trip to DC. We spent many consecutive hours in a windowless "board room" where we dissected, debated, disengaged, collaborated, and struggled to find meaning in what we did and learn from each other. We were given management tools and Coro-isms -- OARRs, DKDK, LDWpF, 4WH, WIGO, DiSC, Ryan's BITS. That wasn't enough for us so we created our own -- MVOU, PINO, ITO, WTFIGO.

And that was just group activities on Tuesday nights, Fridays, and weekends. I also had short-term individual placements during the week where I:

• Fit-tested some fire equipment at the City Emergency and Homeland Security Agency;
• Delivered yard signs and doorknocked for a judicial campaign;
• Created a marketing plan for Attack Theatre, a dance company;
• Developed a framework for a community dialogue event for the Sprout Fund;
• Conducted benchmarking research on sustainable tourism initiatives at the PA Environmental Council;
• Researched local, state, and federal biodiesel and renewable energy legislation for Steel City Biofuels.
  

And that was how I spent nine months of my life before grad school. (It's really not as glamorous as I may have somehow mistakenly made it seem.) Now can you see why I don't talk about Coro? No? I guess you just had to be there.

It's funny that when people here in Australia ask me what I did before coming to Heinz, I say I did a fellowship in public affairs in Pittsburgh, to which they just nod and move on. No one knows what a "fellowship in public affairs" actually means and no one cares. It's kind of nice.