Archive - December 2014

The Associated Press reports that in a new survey young kids are more serious about giving back than their parents were (that means you!). In fact, those under age 30 now are more likely to say citizens have a “very important obligation” to volunteer, an Associated Press poll finds. The embrace of volunteering is striking because young people’s commitment to other civic duties – such as voting, serving on a jury and staying informed – has dropped sharply from their parents’ generation and is lower than that of Americans overall. Among six civic activities in the AP poll, volunteering is the only one that adults under 30 rated as highly as older people did. Today’s young adults grew up amid nudges from a volunteering infrastructure that has grown exponentially since their parents’ day, when the message typically came through churches or scouting. In the decades since President George H.W. Bush . . .

Brian Cummins (Dominican Republic 1990-92) served in a small business program as a PCV.  After stints as a trainer for a DR program in ’93 and a Latvia program later that year he was hired as Admin. Officer (AO) for the Russian Far East (1994-97), then transferred to Moldova (1997-90) as AO.  He is currently on the Cleveland City Council.  He and his RPCV wife, Gayle have two daughters. Ken Hill, Country Director in the Russian Far East (1994-96) recalls that Brian’s work at the challenging RFE post was “extraordinary and impressive, resulting in major improvements to post operations and volunteer support”. Ward 14 Councilman Brian Cummins was re-elected to Cleveland City Council for a thrid term in 2013 and represents the communities of Clark Fulton, Stockyard, and portions of Brooklyn Centre, Tremont and West Boulevard neighborhoods. Councilman Cummins previously represented the community of Brooklyn Centre and parts of Old . . .

Alan Toth (South Africa 2010-12) started Posh Corps Shorts as a companion series for his feature film Posh Corps. He was inspired to create the companion series based on his conversations with RPCVs from countries like Morocco and Cambodia. Despite the fact that they did not serve in South Africa, Alan said, “they understood immediately that the film was intended to demonstrate that the availability of first-world amenities does not make Peace Corps service posh. I wanted to help these fellow posh corps volunteers tell their stories.” Posh Corps Shorts was also an opportunity for Alan to achieve, in some degree, his original vision for Posh Corps. When he first started pre-production for the film he was finishing up his Peace Corps service. His vision for the film was to interview Volunteers in posh corps countries around the world. He even traveled to Cambodia for his COS trip to research the . . .

TO:                  Peace Corps Global FROM:            Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Director SUBJECT:      Peace Corps Ranks Third in Best Places to Work in the Federal Government I’m thrilled to share with you that the results of the annual survey of 2014 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government are in. The Peace Corps is ranked third among 30 small agencies-up from fourth place last year. Our employee satisfaction and commitment score is 82.8 out of 100, placing the Peace Corps in the very top of all small agencies. This is the fifth year in a row that the Peace Corps ranked in the top five agencies and we’ve only been participating for five years. Our employee satisfaction and commitment score improved by 4.6 points since last year. The government-wide satisfaction and commitment score is 56.9, down 0.9 points from last year. That places our 2014 score 25.9 points higher than the government-wide score. . . .

FOLLOWING HIS TWO U.S. OPEN WINS, Johnny McDermott, our first “homebred” U. S. Open winner, entered the 1914 British Open, but because of travel delays he arrived too late to tee off. Returning home to the States his ship, the Kaiser Wilhelm II, collided with an English ship and sank. He drifted in a lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic for over 24 hours before being rescued. When he did reach America, he learned he had been wiped out financially because of bad Wall Street investments and needed to take a job as the golf pro at the Atlantic City Country Club. He was then 23 years old and he quit playing tournament golf. Within a few years players couldn’t even recall his name or what he had won. Still a young man, McDermott began to suffer mental breakdowns and his family had him committed to the Norristown Hospital . . .