Brooklyn Youth Advisory Council

In partnership with the Brooklyn Borough President's Office, Coro recently created the Brooklyn Youth Advisory Council (BYAC), a program for Coro's Exploring Leadership alumni.

The Brooklyn Youth Advisory Council is a competitive opportunity for Exploring Leadership alumni to further develop their personal, professional, and leadership skills through meaningful and participatory civic engagement experiences.  The BYAC's purpose is to serve as a critical advisory resource on public policy issues affecting Brooklyn youth, while offering continued opportunities for growth to its youth participants.

The BYAC was asked to look at the current education reform issue of school co-locations. To accomplish this, the members of the BYAC spent ten weeks looking at the issue and conducting focus groups at the campuses of three formerly large high schools that are now shared by several small schools.  They were trained to run focus groups by staff of Global Strategy Group, thanks to the support of Jeff Plaut, Fellows 1988.

On March 19th they presented their findings and recommendations about what was working well and what could be improved to a group of educators and advocates from Brooklyn, the Borough Presidents's office, and the DOE.  The BYAC will have follow-up meetings with the Department of Education to further discuss its findings and plan for its future work.

To read the full New York Times coverage and hear an interview with the BYAC, click here. To read more about Exploring Leadership, the program the BYAC builds on, click here.

Exploring Leadership and the Brooklyn Youth Advisory Council are supported by The Altman Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, The W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation, The Louise & Arde Bulova Fund, New York Life Foundation, National Grid Foundation, Brooklyn Community Foundation, and other contributors.