Miscellany

The September/October 2013 Foreign Affairs Magazine has a small notice that the Council on Foreign Relations is “seeking talented individuals for the Franklin Williams Internship.” The announcement goes onto say that Ambassador Williams had a long career of public service, including serving at the American Ambassador to Ghana, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lincoln University. He was also, they say, a Director of the Council on Foreign Relations. What it doesn’t say is that Franklin Williams began his ‘international’ career at the Peace Corps in 1961, and was at HQ with the first group of Mad Men, first as Chief of the Division of Private Organizations, and then head of the African Region. In 1965 LBJ appointed Williams to become the first black representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, from this position he would go onto serve for three years as . . .

Emily Spiegel Peace Corps Volunteer, Dangila, Ethiopia The Peace Corps: The First Year Posted: 10/09/2013 2:59 pm When I joined the Peace Corps one year ago, I wouldn’t have imagined my life to be anything like it is today. In my mind, Peace Corps Ethiopia would be a risky but rewarding adventure, with a lack of electricity and running water, and an abundance of rats. Although some of that may be a bigger part of my life than I care to admit, it is what I did not expect that truly defines my service thus far. I did not expect freezing cold summers with rain so loud it hurts. I can’t say I anticipated my most prized possession to become a bucket and favorite pastime to be drinking tiny cups of freshly brewed coffee. I never thought I would be a local celebrity or that I would have good enough . . .

PRESIDENT CLINTON AND CHELSEA CLINTON [This article by the President and Chelsea Clinton originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune on September 22, 2013. The Peace Corps gets a ‘passing’ reference.] Great Americans: Community Service Is at the Core of our Country’s National Character The idea of community service is as old as America itself. Older really. Benjamin Franklin helped form the first volunteer fire department in Philadelphia in 1736, spawning a movement that continues to this day in communities throughout the country. Alexis de Tocqueville, in the 1830s, contrasted America with his native Europe by saying that the central difference was that in America, people didn’t wait for the state to solve problems. They just got organized and tried to figure out what to do about them. Service is at the core of our national character. In 1933, in the depths of the Depression, FDR created the Civilian Conservation Corps, . . .

September 26, 2013 PEACE CORPS OPERATIONS PLAN IN THE ABSENCE OF CURRENT YEAR APPROPRIATIONS 1. PURPOSE This is general guidance in the event of a funding hiatus caused by the absence of current year appropriations, either through failure to pass a regular appropriations bill or a continuing resolution (CR). It will be supplemented by more specific guidance for any specific funding hiatus. For example, the designation of excepted, funded and other employees and use of available funding may vary depending on the circumstances of a specific funding hiatus. 2. AUTHORITY Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-11, Section 124, Agency Operations in the Absence of Appropriations. 3. REFERENCES Guidance and information regarding furloughs based on unforeseeable conditions can be found under “Guidance for Shutdown Furloughs” at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/payleave/furlough-guidance/guidance-for-shutdown-furloughs.pdf. 4. BACKGROUND OMB Circular A-11 requires agencies to develop and maintain “shutdown plans” for an orderly suspension of agency operations during a . . .

Total Peace Corps Applicants and Active Volunteers Applications                 Enter on Duty 2003       11,518                                      4,484 2004       13,241                                     3,880 2005       11,635                                     4,055 2006       12,507                                     4,096 2007       11,247                                     4,077 2008       13,081                                     3,959 2009       15,384                                     3,694 2010       13,430                                     4,830 2011       12,206                                     4,378 2012       10,091                                     3,850 * All years represent the federal fiscal year which runs from October 1 to September 30 of the next year.

[In March, Vocativ, a news website posted this item and it just came my way.] posted by VOCATIV STAFF in SNEAK PEEK “Those who can’t find work, volunteer.” That was a popular idea during the height of the recession, but Vocativ has learned that the number of people applying to serve as volunteers in the Peace Corps is down 35 percent from 2009 and is now the lowest in a decade. As the national unemployment rate hit a record high after the real estate market crash, so did the number of applications to the Peace Corps. 24 months in Tonga? No problem. Build a library in Burkina Faso? Why not. While college seniors scrambled to compete for few entry level jobs, the once for-hippies-only, life-postponing volunteer program offered an alternative stepping stone to adult life. However, that is no longer the case, according to data on applicants and enrolled volunteers . . .

Yesterday, September 17, 2013, Peace Corps Response arranged an interview with three of the Global Health Service Program/Peace Corps Response Volunteers. This is the new partnership program between Global Health Services and Peace Corps Response.This is the first year of the program. These are a total of 30 doctors and nurses who are assigned to teaching hospitals in Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania.  Their primary mission is clinical education for host country doctors and nurses.  They will be in-country for one year. This interview was supposed to be a video, but there were technical problems.The three Volunteers participated via c-phones. One Volunteer nurse educator is assigned to Tanzania and she is a former Peace Corps Volunteer. Her husband is also in Tanzania as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer, not a GHS/PCR Volunteer. The other Volunteers are a husband and wife team assigned in Ghana.  She is a nurse educator and he has . . .

Kirk E. Breed (Chile 1963–65) began a long and distinguished career in public service in 1963 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile and concluded his career serving as executive director of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) from 2008 until his death on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, at the age of 73 after a brave battle against cancer. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, and their daughter, Cloe; three children from a previous marriage, Ashley (Chuck) Neumann, Shayna (Chris) Guigliano, and Monte Breed; three grandchildren, Wyatt and Halle Neumann and Piper Guigliano; and three sisters, Anna Osban, Gloria Headerlin, and Amelia Baugh and many nieces and nephews. His homespun ways stood out in the hard-boiled world of politics and endeared him to those who appreciated his plain speaking and simple truths. Upon learning of Mr. Breed’s passing Governor Jerry Brown reflected, ‘(Kirk) was a special, unique human . . .

Eye on the 60s: Rowland Scherman Documentary On Thursday, September 19th there will be a screening of Eye on the 60s, Chris Szwedo’s documentary on photographer Rowland Scherman. There will be two screenings at 7 and 9:30. Tickets will be $10 and refreshments will be provided. Sizes:   Color: Black and White FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL GALLERIES: SOHO, NYC 124 Prince Street New York, NY 10012 212-941-8770 https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/set/default.aspx?setID=2576

I received a few days ago a copy of this documentary film of the founding of the Peace Corps at the University of Michigan. It was produced for the University of Michigan on the 50th anniversary of the agency. It was sent to me by Al Guskin (Thailand 1961-64), then a graduate student in social psychology in 1961 when Kennedy spoke at 2 a.m. on the steps of the University of Michigan Student Union and introduced the idea of a ‘peace corps’ to the students who had waited up all night to hear him. Al, and his wife Judy (Thailand 1961-64), a graduate student in comparative literature, would go the next day to form the “Americans Committed to World Responsibility” which organized students throughout the midwest to become part of this ‘student movement’. I was, with several others, Bill Donohoe (Ethiopia 19621-64), Dick Joyce (Philippians 1962-64), Leo Reno (Liberia 1963-65) . . .

On this evening’s Hardball, Chris Matthews had a new (I think) twist to his show by answering Tweets and someone tweeted: “Chris, what can I do to help America?” or words to that effect. Chris answered immediately with “Join the Peace Corps” and then gave a simple, rational and sound reason why the man should join for all the reasons we know from our own experiences. While most Americans might ask: is there still a Peace Corps? at least Matthews is raising the flag for all of us. He doesn’t have to do it, but he does. He believes in the  Peace Corps. As we believe in it. The world is going, as my mother would have said, ‘to hell in a handbag,’ with wars and Arab Springs, and struggles to find a way to create democracies, and for some reason Obama and Congress and all the powers-that-be forget that . . .

Posted on September 1, 2013 by the Peace Corps As always, the health, safety, and security of our Volunteers are Peace Corps’ highest priorities. I am personally deeply committed to providing Volunteers with the training, guidance and support they need to remain healthy, safe and productive throughout their service. The Peace Corps has established significant new policies and practices that reflect our strong commitment to reducing risks for Volunteers and responding effectively and compassionately to those who are victims of sexual assault and other crimes. On September 1, the Peace Corps formally launched the final stages of our Sexual Assault Risk Reduction and Response program, which has been developed over the past few years in consultation with post staff and Volunteers worldwide, as well as nationally recognized experts, including recommendations from the Department of Justice; the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN); and the Peace Corps’ newly developed Sexual . . .

On CNN added on August 23, 2013 photos by Rowland Scherman, the official photographer of the 1963 March on Washington. Rowland talks about his breathtaking photos.

Twenty years in the writing, we now have Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) novel, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, that spans five decades and three continents back-dropped by different wars. It is, his publisher, Grove Atlantic says, “his magnum opus.” They (the publisher) writes:”Shacochis builds a complex and disturbing story about America’s coming of age in a pre-9/11 world.” Shacochis, one of the RPCV’s finest writers, reaches “deeper, drawing on his extensive first hand experience as a war correspondent to illuminate the simmering political, cultural, and historical global struggle through riveting and richly layered fiction, presenting an intimate portrait of the catastrophic events that led up to the war on terror and the America we have become.” Bob will be reading and signing books as a series of book stores, colleges, and other sites in the coming months. I’ll try to keep you alerted. So to begin. In early . . .