New York Peace Corps recruiter established the Franklin H. Williams Award in 1999
The Peace Corps recently awarded the 2020 Franklin H. Williams Award that honors returned Peace Corps Volunteers of color who continue the Peace Corps mission through their commitment to community service and who further support the agency’s third goal of promoting a better understanding of other peoples and the countries they served through this work. The award was named for one of the first staff of the agency, former Peace Corps regional director for Africa, and U.S. ambassador to Ghana, Franklin H. Williams. And, what many people don’t know is that while this ceremony resides at Peace Corps HQ in Washington, D.C., the very first awards were given in 1999, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. It developed from an idea by RPCV Recruiter Leslie Jean-Pierre (Guinea 1994-96.) Leslie was a community development and health Volunteer in Guinea and he strongly believed that something . . .
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As someone who knew Frank Williams during the early years of the Peace Corps, and considered him a mentor, I…