The Peace Corps

First published on our site on April 22, 2010 (Reprinted on this anniversary week.) There is a lot one can write about those early days of the agency when the Peace Corps attracted the best and the brightest. An early document of the agency said that the staff in D.C. and around the world was composed of “skiers, mountain climbers, big-game hunters, prizefighters, football players, polo players and enough Ph.D.’s [30] to staff a liberal arts college.” There were 18 attorneys, of whom only four continue to work strictly as attorneys in the General Counsel’s office and the rest [including Sargent Shriver] did other jobs. Also, all of these employees were parents of some 272 children. In terms of staff and PCVs, the ratio was quite small. Figures from WWII show that 30 people were required to support every soldier in the front lines. After the war, the peacetime ratio . . .

  House Peace Corps Funding Letter Circulating The co-chairs of the House of Representatives Peace Corps Caucus, RPCVs John Garamendi (D-CA) and Joe Kennedy (D-MA), along with Representative Garrett Graves (R-LA) are now circulating a letter that their colleagues can sign, asking that Peace Corps funding for the fiscal year that begins this coming October (FY 2021) be increased to $450 million. TAKE ACTION NOW! Read the letter here. Ask your House Rep to “sign the Garamendi – Graves – Kennedy Peace Corps funding Dear Colleague letter that is now circulating”. Write and Ask your House Representative to Sign the Letter Find the Phone Number of Your House Representative if you want to contact them by phone The deadline for members of the House of Representatives to sign this letter is Friday, March 13th. Our goal is to meet or surpass last year’s record-breaking 181 signatures. A similar Senate Dear Colleague letter will . . .

On March 1, 1961, President Kennedy signed the executive order to create the Peace Corps. Three weeks later, on March 22, he would name Sargent Shriver as its first Director. Sargent Shriver believed deeply that the Peace Corps was a cornerstone of peacebuilding, and that it needed to play a central role in our foreign policy and diplomacy. A disruptive, innovative idea at the beginning of the 1960s, the Peace Corps continues to play a significant role in allowing Americans to serve in communities abroad, bringing us closer to our brothers and sisters in developing countries. With new challenges coming about from the effects of climate change, war, pandemics, and other crises, Peace Corps volunteers could play an even bigger role in serving vulnerable communities everywhere — if our leaders would dare to innovate and evolve as President Kennedy and Sargent Shriver did. Below Sargent Shriver’s Remarks at the Peace . . .

Philly-area Peace Corps volunteers are forced to evacuate due to coronavirus: ‘I wasn’t ready to leave’ by Ellie Silverman, Updated: February 28, 2020- 2:02 PM Courtesy of Kaelynn Williams Kaelynn Williams, 25, thought she had about six more months in Mongolia, where she has been working as a Peace Corps volunteer for almost three years. But this week all volunteers in her program were told they had to go home. For Williams, that means returning to Southwest Philadelphia and hoping she can get back to Mongolia.   “We’re crossing our fingers to make sure, to see if that’s possible,” she said. There haven’t been any confirmed cases of coronavirus in Mongolia, but it has hit nearby countries hard. Mongolia borders China, where the virus began, and Mongolian Airlines has canceled flights to and from China, South Korea, and Japan. The Peace Corps is a service program run by the U.S. government . . .

Serra Mesa / Kearny Mesa Library San Diego Sunday, March 1, 2020 1:30 PM 3:30 PM VIEW EVENT → 0 Likes Share MAR 2 5:30 PM Florida State University Monday, March 2, 2020 5:30 PM 8:00 PM VIEW EVENT → 2 Likes Share MAR 3 6:30 PM University Of Wisconsin, Madison Tuesday, March 3, 2020 6:30 PM 9:00 PM VIEW EVENT → 0 Likes Share MAR 3 7:00 PM Silver Spring Town Center, Silver Spring, MD Tuesday, March 3, 2020 7:00 PM 9:30 PM VIEW EVENT → 1 Likes Share MAR 5 4:30 PM American Councils For International Education, DC Thursday, March 5, 2020 4:30 PM 6:30 PM VIEW EVENT → 0 Likes Share MAR 6 6:30 PM Colonial Heights Library, Sacramento, CA Friday, March 6, 2020 6:30 PM 9:00 PM VIEW EVENT → 0 Likes Share MAR 7 1:00 PM Shriver Circle Screening At Hilton Garden Inn, DC Saturday, . . .

Peace Corps News Press Release                         Peace Corps announces 2020 top volunteer-producing schools WASHINGTON – Peace Corps announced today its 2020 ranking of top volunteer-producing colleges and universities. The schools are classed in large, medium or small categories, as well as a graduate school and an all-time category, which ranks the top Peace Corps volunteer-producing schools since 1961, the year of the agency’s inception. “These schools are institutions that emphasize being global citizens and service-minded students,” said Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen. “I am excited to know the graduates coming from Peace Corps’ top colleges are using their skills to make a positive impact on their communities at home and abroad.” In the large school category, the University of Wisconsin–Madison continues to hold the No. 1 spot. After placing ninth in 2019, the University of Florida is now in . . .

Thanks to Alana deJoseph for referencing this article. Author Lex Rieffel is a RPCV, India 1965-67 https://thehill.com/opinion/international/483437-ending-the-peace-corps-program-in-china-is-not-smart#bottom-story-socials BY LEX RIEFFEL, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 02/21/20 01:00 PM EST 40 THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL © Getty Images Last month, before the corona virus outbreak, the Peace Corps informed the Congress that it would begin terminating its program in China in 2020. Sen. Marc Rubio (R-Fla.) applauded the decision, noting that China no longer is a developing country and, echoing the sentiment, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told reporters: “I’m glad the Peace Corps has finally come to its senses.” I beg to differ. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in India (1965-67) and I’ve done research on what America gains from allocating funds in the federal budget for the Peace Corps. Measured against our country’s long-term national interests, pulling the Peace Corps out of China now . . .

    https://www.peacecorpsdocumentary.com/screenings-event/2020/3/1/john-f-kennedy-presidential-library “In Celebration of the Anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps, please join us at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on Sunday, March 1st for a free showing of the documentary film “A Towering Task: The Story of the Peace Corps.” Watch the trailer at: https://vimeo.com/363392905. This event is free to the public, co-hosted by the Boston Area Peace Corps Volunteers (BARPCV), the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA), and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Please reserve a ticket here in order to attend. We are also raising funds to offset the costs of the film showing.  If you are able to make a donation you can do so here.   Schedule of events: 1:00 pm – Free admission to JFK Library and Museum, including Oral History Project 2:00 pm – A Towering Task Documentary Showing 3:30 pm – Q&A panel session hosted by Alan Price, . . .

    As we slide towards March 1, 2020, fifty-nine years since JFK signed an Executive Order creating the Peace Corps, I have a suggested for all RPCVs who want to hold onto the history of the agency. Buy a copy of Larry Lihosit’s chronology of the agency that covers the years 1961-2010. This is, I think, the only source of dates and facts on how the agency grew and developed, listing the Peace Corps changes that happened in every country where Volunteers served from 1961 to 2010. For example, here are three examples of what you’ll find in the book. Aug. 28, 1961 The first groups of Peace Corps Volunteers sent to Ghana and Tanzania, Africa. Summer, 1967 Volunteers in Chile circulated a petition to protest the Vietnam war. Jack Vaughn, Director, sent a letter to all countries assuring volunteers that they had the right to free speech but . . .

    Returned Peace Corps volunteers continue service at home SARASOTA OBSERVER by: Amanda Morales Staff Writer Years after serving abroad, Peace Corps volunteers work on projects throughout Sarasota. • Jan Mazer, who served in Uganda from 1993 to 1995 for the Peace Corps, remembers how difficult it was to transition back to American society when she returned. “It changes you so much,” she said. “That’s the one thing we all share with the Peace Corps; we are not the person who went in. We come back an entirely different human being.” More than 20 years later, Mazer admits that when it rains, she has the urge to stick a bucket outside to catch water, a habit she formed while serving in Nejje, Uganda, as an education teacher trainer. The other habit she and fellow returned Peace Corps volunteers can’t shake is the call to help. In 2006, the Returned Peace Corps . . .

    Welcome to the Writer’s Life: How to Design Your Writing Craft, Writing Business, Writing Practice, and Reading Practice Paulette  Perhach (Paraguay 2008–10) Sasquatch Books 2018 320 pages $18.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by James W. Skelton, Jr. (Ethiopia 1970–72) • Most of us have read books about how to write or be a writer, but this book by Paulette Perhach is by far the best “writer’s book” I’ve ever read. When I began reading it, I was pretty sure I could claim to have already become a writer, but before I was halfway through the text I realized I’m still trying to be a writer. By the time I finished reading Welcome to the Writer’s Life, it was clear that it’s not just another writer’s book or a rule book, it’s much more than that, it’s a writer’s ultimate instruction manual on becoming a successful writer. The amount . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Jeanne Paul (Brazil 1964-66)   Charles Murray Returns, Nodding to Caution but Still Courting Controversy A review in the New York Times, February 13, 2020 by Parul Sehgal     Just when the world seems poised to boil over with political rancor and outrage, along comes Charles Murray — right on time — with a new book titled “Human Diversity.” Yes, that Charles Murray, who in 1994 co-authored “The Bell Curve,” with Richard J. Herrnstein, arguing in two notorious chapters that I.Q. differences between the races were mostly innate and mostly intractable. (They allowed that environmental factors play a part in I.Q., but held that the “balance of the evidence” put a genetic factor of 60 percent “on the low side.”) Social programs like welfare or early education intervention ought to be scrapped not only because they were fruitless but because they encouraged women . . .

Tell us your Peace Corps story (and if you weren’t around back then!)…what did you think of the Peace Corps idea? Why did you join? Today, the agency has been in 141 countries…which one was yours? Over 230,000+ have been Volunteers. When were you a PCV? Tell us in 500 words or less what your service has meant to you. Why is the Peace Corps important for all of us? Send a photo of yourself from your Peace Corps years. Share your story with future generations of PCVs.

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Tino Calabia (Peru 1963-65)     Pompeo Aims to Cut Funds for Program Honoring Envoy Killed in Benghazi The secretary of state rose to prominence investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack. Now he’s on board with an administration plan to eliminate funding for a program honoring Chris Stevens (Morocco 1983-85). BY COLUM LYNCH, ROBBIE GRAMER Foreign Policy Magazine FEBRUARY 14, 2020     As a little-known congressman from Kansas, Mike Pompeo once said his top priority was getting to the bottom of the killing of J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, calling them heroes who had been let down by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other Democratic leaders who put politics above the safety of their own people. But as U.S. secretary of state, Pompeo is now pressing Congress to eliminate a $5 million contribution to a charity dedicated to Stevens’s memory. . . .

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ from Bob Arias (Colombia 1964-66)     Click HERE to see the reunion.