Peace Corps Polyglot

Help Choose NPCA's 2010 Advocacy Priorities

As 2009 comes to a close, the National Peace Corps Association is in the process of selecting advocacy priorities for 2010.

Members of the Peace Corps community are invited to help us select our priorities.  Between now and November 22nd, you are invited to follow this link and take our three question, five minute survey.

Better, Bolder Peace Corps Survey: Initial Results

Our thanks to the more than 4,500 individuals who took part in our Better, Bolder Peace Corps survey.

While a full report will be issued in December, initial results from the survey indicate that among the many ideas on how to improve and embolden the Peace Corps, issues related to strengthening development work and programming resonated especially high among survey respondents.

Follow this link to read our initial findings.

RPCV Congressman Garamendi Hits the Hill

As he made his first remarks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, the phone in Room 2459 of the Rayburn Office Building was already ringing.  "Congressman Garamendi's office, how can I help you?"

Returned Peace Corps Volunteer John Garamendi was sworn in today as the new representative of California's 10th Congressional District.  In welcoming remarks on behalf of the California congressional delegation, Representative Pete Stark began by noting that both Garamendi and his wife Patti began their lifelong commitment to public service as Peace Corps volunteers in Ethiopia in the late 1960's.

Garamendi extends an interesting legacy of Ethiopia Peace Corps alumni serving in Congress.  Former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford was the first Ethiopia Country Director, and former Congressman Paul Tsongas volunteered in Ethiopia from 1962-64. Wofford says "John Garamendi champions so many causes close to my heart.  I very much wish that Paul Tsongas and I could be there with John to work together and bring about a better and bolder Peace Corps for the 21st century."

(Pictured above: The newest member of Congress, John Garamendi (center), with NPCA President Kevin Quigley and Vice President Anne Baker)

RPCV Garamendi Wins Election to Congress

RPCV Congressman-elect John Garamendi and wife Patti (Ethiopia 66-68) at Tuesday night's victory party with fellow RPCVs Pete Johnson (India 67-69) and Susan Neyer (Philippines 62-65)

While election night 2009 was a relatively quiet affair across the nation, there was a big victory within the Peace Corps community out in California.

California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi (Ethiopia 66-68) won Tuesday's special election to represent citizens in the 10th Congressional District.  He received approximately 56% of the vote and defeated several challengers to fill out the term of Ellen Tauscher, who left congress for a position within the State Department.

Garamendi is expected to fly to Washington later today and be sworn in on Thursday - joining five other RPCVs in the Senate and House.

Click here to read more about last night's election.

Better, Bolder Peace Corps Survey - Update

Our thanks to the more than 4,500 individuals (!) who participated in our Better, Bolder Peace Corps Survey.  While there was good participation across the various eras of service, about one-third of the respondents were RPCVs between 2000 and 2009.

In the week since the survey ended, we have been poring through the nearly 2,800 respondents who offered comments at the end of the survey.  We're reviewing these comments closely  - including looking at them in different subsets - to see if they reinforce the raw survey numbers or indicate any additional trends.

We expect to have some initial results posted next week, and plan to have a full report completed by December.

Better, Bolder Peace Corps Survey Underway

In the past few days In less than 24 hours, more than 3,400 1,500 members of the Peace Corps community have already responded to our survey on how to best improve and embolden the Peace Corps to meet the challenges of the 21st century.  If you have not yet taken the survey, you have until Thursday, October 22nd to do so. 

>>Take the Survey Today:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bHFBlSzPNqwfvs5AlGn84w_3d_3d

A couple of things to keep in mind:

• This survey asks you to prioritize and make some tough choices: There are lots of ideas on how to advance the Peace Corps.  All are worthy of consideration but do some resonate more than others within the community.  Given that many ideas require added resources, decision makers are often faced with tough choices on what programs or policies to implement.  Because of this, we are requiring individuals to rank items in order of priority.  As you take the survey you will find for each category that you can only give one item a rank of "1", one item a rank of "2", etc.
• Give yourself time: Expect to take 10-20 minutes to complete the survey.  Determine a block of time that will allow you to consider the various categories and issues, then have at it.
• Only one survey per computer: One way the survey attempts to ensure one response per individual is by allowing only one response per computer.  If this presents a problem (for example, if you have access to only one computer and have four RPCVs in your family) contact us at the information below.
• Forwarding this survey: We encourage you to forward information about the survey to others in the Peace Corps community.  For several different reasons, the link to the survey may not work in forwarded email messages.  In such a case, tell the recipients to simply copy the URL and paste it into your browser.  Then, it should work fine.

Questions?:  Contact us at advocacy@peacecorpsconnect.org

Legislation Would Boost Peace Corps Voter Accessibility

Legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress aims to strengthen oversight of the overseas voting process in order to alleviate numerous obstacles facing U.S. military personnel and civilians who are living overseas.

The "Fixing the Federal Voting Assistance Program Act of 2009" was introduced earlier this year by RPCV Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA) and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) who stated in a press release "It's troubling that Americans abroad, from the men and women in our armed forces to business professionals to Peace Corps volunteers cannot exercise their right to vote."

While there have been attempts to reform overseas voting in the past, citizens not residing in the United States continue to face obstacles when trying to cast their ballot. 

According to the Pew Center on the States, nearly 28% of overseas ballots from the 2008 election were returned, lost or rejected.  Citizens residing overseas must surpass many hurdles in order to have their ballot counted including battling with mediocre ballot delivery methods and dealing with overly stringent and outdated state voting laws.

The legislation would create an oversight board, the Federal Voting Assistance Office, which would monitor the overseas voting process.  This board would report annually to Congress on improvements to the process.  Congressman Honda notes "As a former Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, I know how difficult it is for overseas Americans to cast a meaningful ballot.  The statistics are daunting and unforgivable."

Peter, Pals and Geri

World renowned entertainer Peter Yarrow has been a great friend to the Peace Corps community for decades.  He is fondly remembered by those who attended his performance in Chicago at NPCA's national conference in 2004.  Recently, he put down his guitar, picked up a pen and added his voice to the MorePeaceCorps campaign, assisting with the successful effort to secure a $450 million funding recommendation in the House of Representatives.

Geri Critchley (Senegal 71-72) is one of many RPCV FOY’s (Friends of Yarrow!).  At a recent concert in Vienna, Virginia, Geri along with NPCA President Kevin Quigley and former Senator Harris Wofford went backstage to present Peter with a "Bold New Peace Corps" t-shirt.  As a critical moment for Peace Corps funding approaches, Peter pledges to continue to be a key voice in the campaign.

Aaron Williams Confirmed as Next Director of Peace Corps

RPCV Aaron Williams (Dominican Republic 67-70) has been confirmed to become the 18th Director of the Peace Corps.  The United States Senate unanimously confirmed his nomination today in one of its final actions before a five week recess.

"The Peace Corps community is thrilled with Aaron Williams' rapid confirmation", said NPCA President Kevin Quigley.  "We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Aaron and eagerly look forward to working with him to build a better and bolder Peace Corps that realizes much more of its promise."

During a non-controversial hearing on July 29th before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) - also a Dominican Republic RPCV - indicated his hope the confirmation could come before the August recess and said on several occasions he is excited at the prospect of working with Williams.  That sentiment was echoed by Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) who told Williams "I commend the President on your appointment."

Harris Wofford introduced Williams during the hearing, drawing comparisons to Peace Corps founder Sargent Shriver, adding "I am sure he would recognize Aaron Williams as the kind of leader the Peace Corps needs today."

Saying "Peace Corps is a cost effective way for the United States to expand its humanitarian presence", Williams said he looks forward to working to strengthen, reform and grow the agency.

Follow this link for photographs and other links from the confirmation hearing.  Learn more about Aaron Williams, and see the list of previous Peace Corps Directors.

Assessing Peace Corps' Future

Senator Chris Dodd's Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act calls for an assessment of a number of key Peace Corps operations, to be followed by a strategic plan which includes one and five year benchmarks.  The issues and ideas contained in S. 1382 are among the many that are generating conversation throughout the Peace Corps community.

As part of an upgrade to our Advocacy web pages, you can follow this link for an overview of a number of the key thoughts and proposals that have been circulating over the past 18 months.  If there are any key documents that are missing from this list, please forward them along!