A Milestone for the Peace Corps

Peace Corps got some good news yesterday. 

Here's the message sent out last night by NPCA's MorePeaceCorps Campaign Coordinator, Rajeev Goyal.  Rajeev has been a tireless and savvy advocate for a bigger, better and bolder Peace Corps.

Showing incredible political courage, Representative Howard Berman in today's hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee tossed out the administration's $373 million figure for the Peace Corps in FY 2010 and replaced it with $450 million. This is a gigantic step for the Peace Corps, but our legions of returned volunteers must now see to it that the money is appropriated and voted upon and that a new generation of leadership arrives at the Peace Corps ready and able to create a visionary organization that is an integral part of the American presence in the world.

Everyone should pick up the phone between 9 AM to 5 PM and call the White House at 202-456-1111 and tell the operator that we support a bold, new Peace Corps for the new century.

Read the article on the Huffington Post

We are deeply grateful for the legislators such as Sam Farr, Betty McCollum, Howard Berman and others who are working so hard on behalf of Peace Corps.  Now that the domestic service programs have been given a boost, it's time to to ensure that Peace Corps--the oft-cited inspriration for them all--gets its due.

(Thanks to Service Nation for spreading the word.)

Comments

[William Tarpai]

It is a very positive note that more funds were made available for Peace Corps.

However, take a minute to look at Sri Lanka today - days after the end of war that caused havoc. Peace Corps is ideally qualified to assist with the re-integration and recovery work that must rapidly be started in that country.

There is more than a score of developing countries requesting Peace Corps Volunteers to assist them in achieving their development goals.

War is not the answer! The US needs to be shifting funds from destruction to development as the best way to win 'hearts and minds'.