Peace Corps Polyglot

Changing the Peace Corps for a Changing World

NPCA President Kevin Quigley and Lex Rieffel brought the discussion about national service, global citizenship, and the role of the Peace Corps in the wake of 9/11 to The Globalist Online Magazine yesterday. 

They wrote an editorial that notes that although both Democratic and Republican parties recognize the Peace Corps is one of the essential ways to address the international challenges facing the nation, the current government is falling short of its promises to expand the Corps.  They point out that an evaluation of the vision, funding model, and even organizational form of the Peace Corps is necessary in the face of falling government revenues and the slowing U.S. economy. 

However, they also emphasize that a new model can help the Peace Corps stay in tune with the realities of a changing world, offering opportunities for more effective volunteerism and a broader sense of global citizenship.  They suggest four main ideas for potential change:

• Coordinate volunteer exchange with other countries.  For example, exchanging volunteers with countries like China and Brazil would help all the volunteers learn about each other's cultures and help the world's poorest and most underpriviledged, no matter their home nation. 
• Reevaluate the way Peace Corps volunteers are funded.  Create a system based on cost sharing that includes state and local governments, or that includes NGOs.
• Create a management model that is ready for the Peace Corps' growth.  Quigley and Rieffel suggest a Corporation for International Study and Service, similar to the Corporation for National Community Service in charge of AmeriCorps and other national service programs. 
• Offer programs beyond the 27 month commitment, such as a post-high school "gap year" program or a six-month renewable program for retirees. 

Their message is one of reform. With it comes with the powerful sense that a mission as important as being responsible citizens of the world is one that can inspire us to make the changes we need to address the challenges ahead.

Read the full editorial here.

ServiceNation Summit: News Media Roundup

Yesterday's ServiceNation summit generated an enormous amount of press.  Rather than trying to recap it all, I'll send you to this Google News page, which has a complete list of links.

You Never Know Who You'll Meet on Amtrak

Life is full of serendipity.

NPCA President Kevin Quigley was en route this morning to the ServiceNation Summit in New York City and he happened to sit next to John Bridgeland, co-organizer of the Service Nation Summit, former Director, U.S. Freedom Corps

Taking advantage of this, Quigley asked Bridgeland a few questions:

How does the Peace Corps fit into the Service Nation Summit?

Bridgeland:  First, the citizens petition from students that was sent to President Kennedy saying that they would join his Peace Corps is the model for the Service Nation Declaration of Service. We want millions of Americans to sign. Second, our Service Nation Policy Plan calls for the doubling of the Peace Corps to enable more Americans to share their compassion and skills in countries around the world.

And third, Peace Corps officials and the President of NPCA will be with us for the President's Forum and the Summit.

What do you want to see coming out of the Summit?

Bridgeland:  ServiceNation Summit is an action-forcing forum, giving the Presidential candidates a platform to share their visions and plans for a renewed culture of service, Senators the chance to announce the introduction of new legislation and highlight existing bills, including the expansion of the PeaceCorps, and leaders across the country to make their commitments to service and plot their next steps.

What is one thing you would like every member of the Peace Corps community to do?

Bridgeland:  Work in partnership with the ServiceNation Coalition, of which NPCA is a key part, sign the Declaration of Service, and urge policymakers and leaders at all levels to follow through to implement their plans.

Reaching for the Top: ServiceNation Summit (Part II)

Some of the best and brightest in the world of national service are getting together for the much-anticipated ServiceNation National Summit on Sept 11-12 in New York City.  The summit seeks to bring together powerful political, community, and corporate leaders from around the country in support of creating opportunities for all Americans to serve our country and solve the critical issues that face our nation today.

NPCA President Kevin Quigley, MorePeaceCorps Coordinator Rajeev Goyal and NPCA Board President Jan Guifarro will be representing the NPCA and the Peace Corps community.

The chance to speak out about increasing national service is not one we could pass up.  In fact, the goals of the Service Nation   movement align with many of the goals of our MorePeaceCorps campaign.  In an article about the value of and real need for "ten times the Peace Corps" (which we blogged about here) by NPCA President Keven Quigley with Lex Rieffel, highlights the positive effects increasing the size of the Peace Corps and service would have both nationally and internationally.

One of the great things about the ServiceNation movement is that while it focuses on national (American) service, it recognizes and celebrates the strong relationship between domestic and international service.  In its declaration, ServiceNation emphasizes that all communities help "build upon the strength of our nation’s diversity of ideas, experience, and perspectives as we unite to serve."  We've seen the correlation between service at home and service abroad and know that the unique perspective that service abroad brings enriches the service we do at home, and vice versa.

ServiceNation stresses the important point that service is essential to citizenship.  "By engaging individuals in a lifetime of service," ServiceNation says in its vision statement, "we will make service a defining ethic of what it means to be an American."  In supporting this movement we also know that service creates more than just state-bound citizens, it creates global citizens who are ready to meet the world's challenges with open minds and high spirits. 

Stay tuned to hear more about the ServiceNation Summit and the great things that happen when we all put our minds to making making a difference a priority!

Taking Trips and Lasting Friendships

Moose-spotting may not be your typical post-Peace Corps activity, but when have RPCVs ever been typical?

A unique group of RPCVs became friends during their initial training in Bulgaria and since their return from service, their friendships have only grown. The group of of women, who affectionately call themselves "the old f-rts," range in age from their 50s to 80s and say that the friendships they made during PC service are some of the longest lasting they have.

The group meets up at least once a year for a week or longer to share stories and adventures, catch up with each other's lives, and celebrate the bond they have as friends.  This year's trip was a drive from Southern Maine to Quebec City, making a stop on the way back to explore Maine's North Woods, where the exciting moose-spotting occurred!

They've gone to Atlanta, Santa Fe, and even Southwest France, but no matter where they go, they now know that one of the most valuable things PC service can give is lifelong friendship.

In the photo (L-R): Marcena Pollitt (Fanwood NJ); Jean Perkins (Phippsburg ME); Carolyn DePalma (Somers NY); Patricia Morin (Kennebunk ME); Marilyn Purdy (Palm Springs CA); Trudy Taylor (Orlando FL); Kathy Stewart (South Portland ME); Kathy Harnig (New York NY); Kitty Coughlin (Cape Elizabeth ME); Colleen Sanders (Freeport ME)

Missing from the 2008 reunion and picture:  Mary Smarr (Atlanta); Eileen Deal (Southwest France); Amy Ramm (development consultant in Armenia).

Photograph courtesy of Kathy Stewart (taken on deck of The Katahdin, Moosehead Lake, Greenville ME)

More on the 100 House Parties: Report from Rajeev

Rajeev Goyal, MorePeaceCorps Campaign Coordinator sent out this message yesterday...

You did it!

One Hundred House Parties rocked the world last night because of your leadership.

What happened last night?

A report came in from Afghanistan in the early hours of the morning that over 50 gathered at the US Embassy in Kabul.  "Pancakes for MorePeaceCorps" hosted by a former Peace Corps staffer in Brazil brought together 12 (2 former volunteers and 10 Brazilian supporters).  In Palo Alto 75 packed a backyard and $4,925 was raised in just a matter of hours.

Representative Sam Farr (Colombia 62-64) attended the party in Pebble Beach, CA that had nearly forty!

Former mayor of Pittsburgh, Tom Murphy (Paraguay 70-72), was the guest at the Pittsburgh party which was one of the biggest parties in the nation.

The party in Cutchogue, Long Island, hosted by Mike Gill and Barbara Butterworth had over 50 attendees including a local legislator and raised over $1,000 (despite 30 MPH winds and torrential rain).  The Manhattan and Brooklyn parties had over 100 attend collectively.  Former Peace Corps Acting Director, Gretchen Handerwerger's party brought together over 25, many of whom were among the founders of the Peace Corps itself!  The other Arlington party was also a major success with 25 attending and many expressing interest in volunteering for the campaign.  Milwaukee generated over 60 personalized letters to lawmakers and Governor Doyle!

These ten or so parties alone raised over $7,000, brought together 400 people, and generated over 100 personalized letters to lawmakers!  We can't wait to hear from the rest of our hosts.

We're urging everyone to please make a donation, however small on the website via the secure paypal link.  Even $20 would make a difference for this grassroots campaign.  Please donate and ask your attendees, friends, and family to support MorePeaceCorps as well.  Maybe someone who attended your party might want to throw a fundraiser.  We have to continue to grow the relationships with the people that attended the parties.  *Our goal is to raise $10,000 online this week by the ServiceNation conference in addition to what was raised this weekend.*  Can we do it?

1,618 - that's how many sign-ups we have on the website.  5,000 by October 14-the anniversary of Kennedy's call to students at the University of Michigan--is our goal.  Can we do it??

Congratulations everyone!!  Lets continue to work together for MorePeaceCorps.

And may we say?  Thank you Rajeev and May for all the hard work and enthusiasm you put into making this a success!!

First 100 House Party Report--From Afghanistan!

I'm getting ready to attend a MorePeaceCorps House Party in Maryland, but thought I would share the first report we've received from a House Party in Afghanistan!!

Leslie Wilson of Save the Children e-mailed:

It’s 10PM in Kabul and everyone has a curfew, of course, so our party is over now.  It was a HUGE success with almost 50 RPCVs and friends of Peace Corps joining together for a traditional Afghan meal catered by local restaurant favorite, Rumi.  The RPCVs who live on the American Embassy compound and the nearby USAID (CAFÉ) compound hosted the gathering with RPCVs from Afghanistan, Russia Far East, Thailand, the Philippines, Slovakia, the Ukraine, Mali, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritania, Gabon, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the DR, Chile, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, the Gambia, Honduras, Senegal, Ghana and Nepal.  A good time was had by all!   

Exciting!

Brookings Institution Global Brief: Ten Times the Peace Corps

The Brookings Institution has just published Ten Times the Peace Corps: A Smart Investment in Soft Power by NPCA President Kevin Quigley and Non-resident Senior Fellow Lex Rieffel. The paper--part of the Global Policy Briefs series--is available for downloading on the the Brookings website.

Following is the abstract:

A critical challenge for the next president of the United States will be to convince the rest of the world that we are more interested in being a reliable partner than a military superpower. Our future security and prosperity will depend on the success of this effort.

Reversing the negative attitudes toward the United States that prevail in many parts of the world will require a mix of hard power and soft power instruments. The Peace Corps has been one of the most effective forms of American soft power since it was created by John F. Kennedy almost 50 years ago. With 8,000 volunteers in the field, however, it is half the size it reached at its peak in 1966, and most Americans are unaware that it still exists.

Scaling up the Peace Corps to ten times its present size could be one of the smartest initiatives advanced by the next president if it is premised on a new vision, a different funding model, and an enhanced organizational form.

100 House Parties for MorePeaceCorps: It's Almost Here!

Wow, things are getting busy...and exciting!  In the past few days, momentum has really been building toward our 100 House Parties Event on behalf of MorePeaceCorps.

This first big initiative by the MorePeaceCorps campaign will take place tomorrow, Saturday, September 6th in 117 locations in 42 states and 17 countries!  Amazing.  Kudos to everyone's hard work thus far.

(Here's the press release.)

And do check out the cool interactive Google map of public parties. Click the link and zoom in on the map to find an event in your area. If there is no party near you, it's not too late to organize one! Please contact [email protected] if you would like to put together a gathering in your home.

And speaking of May, today she e-mailed:

I have received at least 10 e-mails like this one below, from people living abroad who are interested in building RPCV networks in their countries, and organizing future parties. Our global network is growing!

I live in the South of France and would like to host a morepeacecorps party later in the month. Is this an option?  In addition, I'm exploring setting up a group of RPCVs abroad (or RPCVs in Europe) to support PC expansion and involvement in policy-making....

Finally, here's a story in the San Jose Mercury Press, "We Need Peace Corps Now More Than Ever," featuring MorePeaceCorps House Party hosts Janet and Wylie Greig.

See you at the party!

Going Back to School? Changing Careers? Idealist.org Gradfairs

The National Peace Corps Association is happy to be a supporter of the Idealist.org Graduate Degree Fairs. 

At each of these fairs, you can meet representatives from 60 to 120 of the leading nonprofit-related graduate programs in the country, representing degrees ranging from MPAs and MBAs through Law, Social Work, International Relations, Urban Planning, and many more.

This fall we will be in:

• New York, September 10
• Boston, September 15
• Toronto, September 18
• Washington, DC, September 19
• Philadelphia, September 22
• San Francisco, September 30
• Los Angeles, October1
• Portland, October 4
• Seattle, October 7
• Vancouver, October 10
• Chicago, October 20
• Ann Arbor, October 21
• St. Louis, October 23
• Durham, October 27
• New Orleans, October 30
• Atlanta, November 3

For more information, to register (it's free!), and to see a list of the schools attending each fair, just go to    and click on your city.

And if you want to get a sense of who you'll meet at these fairs, and why you should attend, watch this two-minute video:

Idealist is offering two free Non-profit Career Guides that can help you or other people you know find a nonprofit job: 

The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for First-time Job Seekers and The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for Sector Switchers are both available to download for free at:

http://www.idealist.org/en/career/guide/index.html

If you want to get a sense of what these books look like, and what topics they cover, Idealist.org has a short video for you at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJ7Cq9WkI4

Good luck!!