Ludlam/Hirschoff Plan to Save the Peace Corps
I read the Executive Summary and long excerpts from this 150 plus page document. While the grammar and spelling are…
On July 24, 2009, Chuck Ludlam (Nepal 1968–70; Senegal 2005–07) and Paula Hirschoff (Senegal 2005-07) sent then Peace Corps Director-Designate Aaron Williams a “Plan to Strengthen and Expand the Peace Corps: Priorities for President Obama’s First Term.”
Chuck and Paula wrote in their introduction:
This Twenty Point Plan to strengthen and expand the Peace Corps — drafted over four years by a couple of two-time Volunteers and circulated widely for comment within the Returned PCV community — proposes an ambitious road map for President Obama and Peace Corps Director-Designate Aaron Williams and his leadership team.
The Ludlam/Hirschoff Plan is attached as a PDF file for those of you who have not seen it or heard about it.
Photo: Paula Hirschoff and Chuck Ludlam on 20/20
I read the Executive Summary and long excerpts from this 150 plus page document. While the grammar and spelling are great, the mood is preachy and the tone shrieks which is not always a good combination for a persuasive argument. This is unfortunate since there are many very interesting points. It could have used more examples too. For instance, the authors argue that the PC calculation of the Early Termination rate is flawed. It would have been very helpful to choose a year, review how the PC calculated the rate and then recalulate it with the author’s method. They explain but did not illustrate well. Some people might wonder if they can walk the walk. With some work, the authors could turn this into a small book. Get rid of the 20 point program which is cliche. Just describe problems and possible solutions. Dump all the references to legislation by dead and/or retired senators. Update budgetary comments. Erase inflamatory comments. Also, this paper seems to be advocating more bureaucracy. Hey! Washington already has three times more employees than it did the last time they had about 8,000 volunteers. No more please!