Coro New York Leadership Center

To tackle some of the underlying problems that have affected the health of neighborhoods, NYHealth launched the Healthy Neighborhoods Fund initiative to help New York State communities become healthier and more active places.

Through the Healthy Neighborhoods Fund, NYHealth is investing $2 million over two years to support six communities across the State in their efforts to increase access to healthy, affordable food; improve access to safe places where residents can exercise and be active; and connect children and adults to programs that support healthy behaviors. Although all the communities are working toward the common goal of improving the health of their residents, each community may face particular challenges. In response, NYHealth is supporting these communities with more specialized technical assistance to help them meet their goals. In 2016, NYHealth awarded a grant to Coro New York Leadership Center (Coro) to provide a leadership program for community school directors in New York City.

Under this grant, Coro provided a three-day leadership training program for a cohort of up to 130 community school directors. Coro’s leadership training program worked to create healthier and more collaborative community environments for New York City school children by supporting the provision of in-school health and mental health services, as well as building parent and community engagement in school culture. Specifically, the program improved community school directors’ personal and interpersonal leadership skills; created a learning community and strong network for collaboration among the participants; and equipped the participants with the framework and tools to lead their schools in implementing community health practices. Coro collected a feedback survey from the program participants and reported the results to the New York City Department of Education.