The Peace Corps

  A Critical Review of Wendy Melillo’s, Democracy’s Adventure Hero on a New Frontier: Bridging Language in the Ad Council’s Peace Corps Campaign, 1961-1970 published by Taylor & Francis Online by William Josephson Retired Partner, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP Founding Counsel, Peace Corps, 1961-66 Ms. Wendy Melillo’s, Democracy’s Adventure Hero to a New Frontier: Bridging Language in the Ad Council’s Peace Corps Campaign, 1961-1970, begins with the assertion that the Peace Corps “would be the only new proposal to emerge from a tight race in which the Massachusetts Senator [John F. Kennedy] won the popular vote by a slim margin.”  Yet, subsequently, she acknowledges his commitment to rethink Mutual Security military and foreign aid programs of the 1950s.  She never mentions Kennedy’s commitment to close the “missile gap.”  Although she mentions Sputnik, she does not mention his commitment to catch up to the Soviet Union in the . . .

  “A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps” Alana DeJoseph Raising the Bar From Quaint to Crucial BY JOAN MEAD-MATSUI NOVEMBER 4, 2020 • Being a returned Peace Corps volunteer herself, Alana DeJoseph, producer, director, videographer, and editor, couldn’t help but think that an in-depth, comprehensive Peace Corps documentary was needed. “Peace Corps Film Director Reflects” ignites future discussions about the significant role the Peace Corps has played in the world with an eye on the future. Alana’s “A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps,” a film she directed, follows the agency’s beginnings, first volunteers, and evolution in a style that will capture your heart and remind you how we can make a positive difference in our world. Alana’s heart has always been in documentaries. She has worked in video and film production for more than 30 years and while reflecting on her experiences in the . . .

  Published in Writers on the Range   When “All in the Family” hit the TV screens in 1971, the war in Vietnam was raging, cities from Washington, D.C., to Detroit, were charred from riots in the wake of Martin Luther King’s assassination, and many young people like me were leaving those cities, moving West to rural America. Archie Bunker stayed in Queens, where a “bar was a man’s castle,” while daughter Gloria and son-in-law “Meathead” tried to help Archie grasp hippies and anti-war protests. We called ours the “back to the land” movement, and we chuckled with Meathead as Archie Bunker got chuckles from our dads. But we were done watching “Leave it to Beaver” and “Ozzie and Harriet.” Our flexible families were radically changing. Well, the family has changed again, and, I’d argue that my own, occasionally dysfunctional family is closer to what’s happening in America now than . . .

By Harrison Smith November 16, 2020 Laurence Pope (Tunisia 1967-69), a veteran diplomat and counterterrorism expert who came out of retirement to serve as the top U.S. envoy to Libya weeks after the 2012 attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, died Oct. 31 at his home in Portland, Maine. He was 75. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his wife, Elizabeth Pope. In his 31 years as a diplomat, Mr. Pope helped shape Iran and Iraq policy at the State Department, was appointed ambassador to Chad by President Bill Clinton and served as political adviser to Gen. Anthony Zinni, head of Central Command, which manages U.S. forces in the Middle East. He had been retired for more than a decade when Islamist militants launched an assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. The attack marked the first time a U.S. . . .

(WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov 19, 2020) – AmeriCorps today announced the Harris Wofford Joint Service Award, a new award for individuals who have served in both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. Honoring the legacy of the late Senator Harris Wofford, who helped establish both the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, the award will recognize more than 10,000 individuals who have already chosen to serve their country at home and abroad through both programs, as well as the thousands more who make that same commitment in the future. The Harris Wofford Joint Service Award will be available to individuals who have successfully completed both a full year of service in AmeriCorps, as well as service in Peace Corps or Peace Corps Response. “Each year, thousands of Americans make the commitment to serve through AmeriCorps and Peace Corps. Our country needs their service now more than ever, and this award is just one way we . . .

  NYTimes November 20, 2020 SEOUL, South Korea — Sandra Nathan spent 1966 to 1968 in a South Korean town as a young Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English to high school girls. Fifty-two years later, Ms. Nathan, now back in the United States, received a care package from South Korea that nearly brought her to tears. Ms. Nathan, 75, had been feeling increasingly isolated at home in Stephentown, N.Y. Reports about the exploding number of Covid-19 cases in the United States had made her anxious about going outside, where experts warned of second and third waves of infection. Then, early this month, she received a packaged labeled “Covid-19 Survival Box.” It was a gift from the South Korean government that contained ​100 ​masks and other items “as a token of our gratitude for your dedication to Korea.” “It was as if this box had been traveling to me since 1968,” . . .

  Due to the overwhelming positive response to the nomination of Kathleen Corey as Peace Corps Director, please send any further recommendations to nextpeacecorpsdirector@gmail.com.      

  To express your support write Reema Dodin at rdodin@jbrpt.org who is accepting letters of support for this position.  Also, send this letter to your Senators. I have included Corey’s qualification statement and short resume for your review and use in crafting a letter. KATHLEEN MARIE COREY coreykath@yahoo.com 253-627-5000     PEACE CORPS Country Director, North Macedonia                                                                                     2013-2016 Country Director, Sri Lanka                                                                                                . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Laurette Bennhold (PC Staff 1994-1999)   Senior executive with over 30 years leadership experience with Peace Corps, the Department of State, and international non-governmental organizations. Substantial diplomatic experience promoting U.S. interests abroad. She works exceptionally well in culturally diverse settings. Experienced public speaker and media relations manager. Kathleen Corey has been the president and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Seattle and Tacoma. Prior to joining the World Affairs Council, Ms. Corey lived and worked in eighteen countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern and Central Europe, Europe, and Central America. She began her overseas career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa and spent twenty years managing international and domestic management programs for the Peace Corps and the Center for Applied Linguistics, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit educational institution. From 1994-1998, Ms. Corey was Country Director for the Peace Corps in Sri Lanka . . .

From the NPCA website: “The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing national crisis that requires a creative and focused response by local and national governments as well as by individual Americans. There is an immediate need in communities across the country, particularly among minority and underserved populations to identify and trace the sources of COVID-19 infection. The Peace Corps community can help meet this immediate need. Contact tracing on this scale requires large numbers of trained personnel to be quickly deployed to priority-need communities, in coordination with state and local public health professionals.” NPCA’s first Emergency Response Network project was with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of Seattle and King County, Washington.  Dr. Anthony Fauci commended  these RPCVs as they began training as contract tracers for  COVID-19, in his moving address. The only contact I could find for RPCVs who might  want to apply to be a member of . . .

  NPCA President Glenn Bumhourst announces CONNECT WITH THE FUTURE.  It is NPCA’s  Plan, months in the making, for a Path to the Future for the Peace Corps.  Here is the announcement with links to read the Report. Today we present a community report on how to reimagine, reshape, and retool the Peace Corps for a changed world.  Read the Report Online Amid a time of unprecedented crisis for the Peace Corps and our nation as a whole, the Peace Corps community has come together to chart a way forward: with specific, actionable steps that will help reimagine and retool the Peace Corps for a changed world. Those steps are outlined in “Peace Corps Connect to the Future,” a report months in the making and made public today. The report itself was prepared by a special National Peace Corps Association advisory council drawn from the broad Peace Corps community inside and . . .

Here is our new list — as of March 2021 — 329 RPCV & staff authors who have published two or more books (of any type). If you know of someone who has and their name is not on this list, then please email me at: jcoyneone@gmail.com. I know I don’t have all the writers who have been Volunteers or Staff in the Peace Corps over these last 59 years. Thank you. Jerome R. Adams (Colombia 1963–65) Tom Adams (Togo 1974-76) Thomas “Taj” Ainlay, Jr. (Malaysia 1973–75) Elizabeth (Letts) Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) Robert Albritton (Ethiopia 1962-65) Usha Alexander (Vanuatu 1996–97) James G. Alinder (Somalia 1964-66) Richard Alleman (Morocco 1968-70) Hayward Allen (Ethiopia 1962-64) Diane Demuth Allensworth (Panama 1964–66) Paul E. Allaire (Ethiopia 1964–66) D. Allman (Nepal 1966-68) Nancy Amidei (Nigeria 1964–65) Gary Amo (Malawi 1962–64) David C. Anderson (Costa Rica 1964-66) Lauri Anderson (Nigeria 1963-65) Peggy . . .

  Botswana is one of Africa’s great showplaces. It has the continent’s largest concentration of wildlife and the largest elephant population. It also has a network of strikingly beautiful waterways and scenic landscapes. The country has benefited from sustained political stability and an economic policy that has balanced growth and development with environmental sensitivity. Author and explorer Steve Kaffen takes readers to two Botswana highlights, Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta, with revealing photographs of animal and birdlife in natural surroundings, pristine waterways, varied landscapes, and local lifestyles. Steve writes in his introductory note: “Africa is exhilarating. I feel a rush of energy upon arrival. I soon encounter the first African smile–huge, warm, and genuine–welcoming me back. I love the feeling of freedom, the open spaces, the unfiltered conversations and hospitality, and the naturally beautiful places. The entire experience is enveloping.” Amazon.com will be offering the book free Friday . . .