Youth Fellows Program
Preparing high school students to lead and thrive
The Youth Fellows Program offers an immersive leadership development summer experience for high school students. The Fellowship strengthens the next generation of Southern California leaders — educating them about civic life and key institutions, and equipping them to be effective advocates and ambassadors for their communities. Youth Fellows gain a deeper understanding of Los Angeles while strengthening their communication and analytical skills. They emerge with valuable professional experience, greater confidence, and a robust network of Coro alumni eager to support their career development.
Apply to YFP
The application cycle has closed. Submit an Interest Form to receive recruitment updates.
The Youth Fellows Program is a rigorous, full-time summer program that provides 6 weeks of immersive leadership development for rising high school juniors and seniors.
Leadership Seminars: Sessions led by Coro’s expert facilitators, focusing on effective leadership skills. Practice and apply proven leadership strategies:
- self-awareness and self-management
- collaboration and effective communication
- mindfulness
- inquiry, critical thinking, evaluation skills, and more.
Internship Placement: Provide Youth Fellows with direct exposure to local institutions and real-world job experience. Youth Fellows begin to build a strong network and apply their leadership skills in a professional setting.
Logic Study: Youth Fellows are challenged to delve into the inner workings of a specific system in Los Angeles — engaging in tours, expert interviews, and independent research. This exercise hones the cohort’s leadership abilities, sharpening self-awareness and group dynamics.
Focus Days: Cohort-led explorations of specific civic challenges promote collaboration, relationship building, and strategic thinking. Youth Fellows work in small teams to design and lead an in-depth exploration of a civic issue, deepening their understanding of challenges facing the community.
Explore pressing topics affecting public life, and learn leadership strategies to leverage resources, collaborate, and create positive change.
Meet mentors and influential change makers eager to support your education and career development. Join Coro’s 15,000-strong network of remarkable leaders.
Deepen your understanding of leadership strategies, including inquiry, constructive feedback, and communication skills. Youth Fellows emerge with increased confidence and new understanding of potential career pathways.
Find the Program Benefits Guide below to learn more.
For years, Coro has empowered young leaders to take on influential roles in business, public service, and advocacy on the most important issues facing our communities. We celebrate and value diverse perspectives, identities, experiences, and worldviews in all our programs.
Ideal candidates…
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live or attend school in the Greater Los Angeles Region.
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are high school sophomores or juniors when they apply (the program is tailored to rising juniors and seniors)
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want to make a difference in their schools and communities.
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are eager to learn, grow, and challenge themselves.
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commit to meeting for the scheduled sessions, held in Downtown LA.
There’s nothing like the Coro approach. Coro helps people deepen their innate leadership skills, giving them the tools and a lifelong network to activate tangible change.
It’s not just about finding the right solutions; Coro training is uniquely focused on helping leaders ask the right questions. It’s about equipping leaders to relate across differences rather than simply reacting to them. Coro leaders intentionally engage and collaborate with others across identities, ideologies, sectors, and generations. Participants should be ready to engage productively with different perspectives and in personal reflection.
Coro views leadership as an active practice that requires hands-on experiential learning. Participants are expected to be engaged, mindful, and fully present, minimizing external distractions to maximize their growth and contribution to the cohort.
Coro leaders learn to move from judgment to curiosity, navigate ambiguity, sit in discomfort, and embrace empathy and vulnerability as essential leadership practices, critical for unleashing learning, and building authentic connections. Participants must be willing to embrace vulnerability to foster a psychologically safe environment — a necessary precursor to adaptive, innovative collaboration.
Program Cost
Tuition is $5,000 (subsidized from $11,000 thanks to our generous sponsors).
Scholarships
Coro offers need-based scholarships. Applicants seeking a scholarship must complete the relevant questions on the application.
Questions? Contact
Callie Spaide
Associate Director, Recruitment & Alumni Relations
callie@corola.org
YOUTH FELLOWS' COLLEGE ACCEPTANCES
See Youth Fellows Program college acceptances
Amherst College
Boston University
Brown
CSU Fullerton
CSU Long Beach
CSU Los Angeles
CSU Pomona
Dartmouth
Dickinson College
Harvard
Hobart William Smith
Loyola Marymount
New York University
Northeastern
Pepperdine
Pomona College
Stanford
Tulane University
UC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego
UCLA
University of Pennsylvania
- Yale University
Alumni Testimonials
“Coro is truly an experience like no other… In order to be the leader I wanted to become, I had to see the space Coro was providing, take ownership of it, and establish myself. I came to respect myself and create my own confidence instead of relying on others, one of many lessons I will take with me for the rest of my life.”
Elle Balle
“The program’s emphasis on experiential learning has allowed me to explore various community issues hands-on, fostering a deeper understanding of social dynamics and systemic challenges. Moreover, the diverse and supportive network of like-minded individuals has empowered me to think beyond my own perspectives and create innovative solutions.“
Jesus Gonzalez
Sponsored By
