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cara long corra

Director, State Coalition

Cara Long Corra is director of state coalition at StriveTogether. In this role, she collaborates with StriveTogether’s policy team and partners to develop strategies that support the Cradle to Career Network’s goals.

Cara grew up in New York State and spent her career working in state policy as a researcher and advocate. She has worked on a variety of issues, including STEM education, women’s workforce participation, affordable housing preservation and development, and modernizing state tax credits to better address the economic needs and realities of working people and families. Cara relishes the opportunity her work at StriveTogether provides to assist communities in identifying and accessing resources that will help them support children and families from cradle to career.

Prior to this role, Cara served as senior policy analyst at the Fiscal Policy Institute and, before that, as executive director of the Neighborhood Preservation Coalition of New York State. Because housing and community development are so important to her, she volunteers at Found House’s Pet Support Program in Cincinnati, Ohio, which provides temporary shelter for pets whose owners are in shelters, rehabilitation centers or hospitals. Cara holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in Media Arts.

hear from cara

Communities in the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network are working to improve all of the systems that impact youth and families, like health care, housing, transportation, justice and more. Share why one adjacent sector is important to you.

Housing and community development are very important to me. Communities across America are experiencing housing shortages that apply upward pressure to rent and make homeownership out of reach for too many families. Access to safe, decent and affordable housing is critical to the health and well-being of communities and is tied to a host of outcomes. I’m passionate about housing and community development because our homes are at the very center of our lives — we need equitable reform to protect the health and economic well-being of people and families.