As the Peace Corps celebrates its 48th birthday and Congress prepares to vote on the Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009, pieces in the news and on blogs are popping up in support of expanding the Peace Corps.
Over the weekend NPCA member Helene Dudley had a very nice piece about Rep. Farr's Peace Corps Expansion Act appear in the Miami Herald. You an read the full text here. She wrote:
House Bill 1066, recently introduced by Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., provides for the expansion of the Peace Corps, which has shrunk to half its size in the 1960s. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all proposed doubling the Peace Corps, which currently has 7,900 volunteers in 76 countries. With the additional funding, the Peace Corps could add 20 countries that want volunteers and honor requests from existing countries for more volunteers.
She goes on to relate the activities of RPCVs of South Florida:
As an example of long-term benefits of such an investment, the 200 members of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida (RPCVSF) continue to support international development but also work together in the local community. The group sponsors projects to serve migrants and the homeless in South Florida. Members sit on boards of local, national and international nonprofits, sponsor a school in Niger and volunteer their time for an AIDS-orphan program in Malawi and a scholarship program in Haiti. By working through effective grass-roots organizations in Colombia, RPCVSF-The Colombia Project provides microloans to help displaced Colombian families regain financial independence.
Don't forget, tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3rd, is the National Peace Corps Association's National Day of Action, when thousands of members and friends of the Peace Corps community will visit, phone, email, write and fax their members of Congress to urge support for increased Peace Corps funding.
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