Obama Calls for a Doubling of Peace Corps

Senator Barack Obama today issued a "Call to Serve" and detailed his commitment to making national service an important cause of his presidency in a major policy address at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

At the event, Obama was introduced and endorsed by Senator Harris Wofford, former Associate Director of the Peace Corps and former Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights during the Kennedy Administration.  Wofford was instrumental in the formation of the Peace Corps and, as a Senator, played a key role in crafting and passing the legislation that led to the creation of AmeriCorps.

Wofford is a member of the National Peace Corps Association's Advisory Council. 

Among other items, his plan calls for: 

* Doubling the size of the Peace Corps from 7,800 volunteers to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and work to partner volunteers with people from other nations.

* Establishing an America's Voice Initiative to recruit and train Americans that are fluent speakers of local languages to bolster our public diplomacy efforts abroad.

Doubling the size of Peace Corps and having the resources to respond to the more than 20 countries that have requested programs are two of the goals of the NPCA's More Peace Corps campaign.

Following are some excerpts from his speech...

"It is an honor to be introduced by Harris Wofford - one of America's greatest advocates for public service. Starting with the civil rights movement and the Peace Corps, Harris and a generation of Americans answered a call to service. At a pivotal moment in our history, they stood up; they changed America; and they changed the world...."

To restore America's standing, I will call on our greatest resource - not our bombs, guns, or dollars - I will call upon our people. We will grow the Foreign Service to renew our commitment to diplomacy. We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011. And we'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity...."

>> Click here for full text of the speech.
(Photo courtesy of Barack Obama Flickr)

Comments

[muriel glsagow]

This political process has harnessed the energy of our youth and brought home to me how youth could continue being involved in the political process going forward - as ambassadors of peace leaving peace footprints and creating a better world.

See this link for Senator Obama's suggestion for a revisit of the Peace Corps during the 2nd presidential debate and for Gordon Brown's reference to the creation of a Global Peace Corps at the Clinton Global Initiatiave 2008 closing session on globalization.

http://muriella.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/obama-on-peace-corps/