CORO

Past National Gatherings

CNAA 2009 National Alumni Gathering - Pittsburgh, PA

CNAA would like to thank everyone who attended the 2009 Coro National Alumni Gathering in Pittsburgh, PA, in November!  We had a wonderful, fun-packed weekend, and joined the Coro Civic Leadership Center in the celebration of its 10th anniversary.

The weekend kicked off on Friday, Nov. 6th, with a welcome reception for Coro alumni and friends, and continued strong with a day full of alumni-led workshops and engaging discussions.  On Saturday night, we gathered at the Pittsburgh Opera to celebrate the ten years of Coro in Pittsburgh.  Mark Roosevelt, the Superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools, gave a rivetting and engaging keynote address, and CNAA recognized the contributions of two Coro alumni, Maggie Sullivan (PGH '05)and Andrew Haupt (SF '95), with Distinguished Alumni Achievement Awards. The Gathering wrapped up on Sunday with a workshop on democracy facilitated by the Coro Pittsburgh Director of Fellowships Lynne Ventress (PGH '06). As always, it was wonderful to reconnect with old friends--and make many new ones--and we look forward to seeing you at the next CNAA National Gathering in November 2010! 

CNAA 2008 National Alumni Gathering - Boston, MA

Check out photos from the 2008 National Gathering! Click Here >>

The 2008 Coro National Alumni Gathering Planning Committee is happy to report that this year’s Gathering was a great success! Held over the weekend of November 7-9, 2008, on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston, the Gathering welcomed alumni and friends from all over country (and the world!), and engaged over 90 participants in two days of stimulating sessions, networking opportunities, and social outings.

We were excited to have alumni of all Coro centers represented at the Gathering, as well as members of the Coro National Board of Governors (CNBoG) and Coro staff. One of the biggest drivers behind the decision to hold the Gathering in a non-center city was CNAA’s desire to reach out to non-center city alumni and help them reconnect to the Coro community. We are happy to report that the Boston alumni seemed re-energized by the Gathering, and by the end of the event, were swapping emails and phone numbers and planning when they could get together again soon in Boston.

Here are some interesting highlights from this year’s Gathering: 

  • Michael Dukakis, former Governor of Massachusetts and the 1988 Democratic presidential candidate delivered the keynote address, and then opened the floor to questions from the Gathering participants. He commented on the 2008 presidential election as well as lessons learned from decades of public service. Our interaction with Governor Dukakis was extremely positive, and he lauded Coro for its work and for serving as a “gateway to public service” to thousands of young people around the nation.
  • We were fortunate to have three Coro center Executive Directors/CEOs join us at the Gathering: Don Pierro from Los Angeles, Sala Udin from Pittsburgh, and Jeff Sosnaud from San Francisco. We were really inspired by their leadership! Their presence at the Gathering made a powerful statement about their support of Coro alumni and the Coro system in general.
  • We also recognized two alumni for their extraordinary achievement in the realm of public service. James Weinberg (PGH ‘00) and Jennifer Davis (STL ‘85) were recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. James founded Commongood Careers (www.cgcareers.com), a national nonprofit search firm dedicated to supporting social entrepreneurs with their hiring needs. Jennifer is the Co-Founder and President of Massachusetts 2020, a non-profit foundation founded in 2000 focused on expanding educational and economic opportunities for children and families across Massachusetts.
  • On Saturday morning and Sunday morning, we participated in Coro tools sessions led by Steven Redfield, the Coro National Director of Training. The Saturday morning session invited Gathering participants to advise President-Elect Obama’s on political priorities as he starts his term as president. The Sunday morning session engaged us in a General Semantics discussion, and challenged us to connect our use of language to how we frame problems and create solutions.

CNAA 2007 National Alumni Gathering - St. Louis, MO

Check out photos from the 2007 National Gathering! Click Here >>

Presentation Documents From the Event 

    CNAA 2006 National Alumni Gathering - Aptos, CA

    Check out photos from the 2006 National Gathering!  Click Here >>

    2006 event organizers Peter Roose (StL ’05) and Andrew Butcher (StL ’05) wrote summaries of the national gathering events.