The Birth of the Bold New Peace Corps

The bold new Peace Corps was born today in room 2172 in the Rayburn House Office Building. It took place as members of the House of Representatives were marking up the Foreign Affairs Authorization Bill authored by Committee Chairman Rep. Howard Berman. For almost every item, the California Democrat kept to the figures in President Obama's budget, but when it came to the budget for the Peace Corps he tossed out the administration's fiscal year 2010 figure of $373 million and made it $450 million. In terms of the overall budget this was chump change, but if the bill passes Congress, the Peace Corps will be able to begin the extensive reform that it needs and to move toward a doubling of the 7,000 volunteers.

Rep. Berman is a loyal Democrat and a team player of the first order. It took courage for him to support this enlarged figure, seemingly opposing the administration's number. In fact, Berman stood up for President Obama's highest ideals and values. Berman supported the movement that elected Obama. Berman saved Obama's own vision.

Obama is the one who in his campaign promised to double the size of the Peace Corps by its fiftieth anniversary in 2011. Obama is the one with a profound understanding of service as an essential feature of the American spirit. Obama is the one who has gone ahead to include in his budget tripling the size of the domestic volunteers to a massive 275,000.

What is increasingly apparent is that at its top levels, the Obama administration does not realize that it has reneged on the President's fervent campaign pledge. I know how unlikely that sounds, but it is the truth, and Berman has done the President an immense service.

If the Peace Corps is able to reinvent itself for the 21st century, Berman will deserve a place not simply in the history of the organization but in a new American presence in the world. He does not stand alone. The politician was accepting figures in a bill written by Rep. Sam Farr, cosigned by 120 of his colleagues.

Obama has a plate piled to overfilling with an endless heaping of intransigent problems, and it is understandable why he has not paid attention to the Peace Corps. But the time has come in the next few weeks when he can ensure this bold new Peace Corps will be a reality.

Obama has a blueprint of what must be done sitting on his desk: the twenty-page transition document written by his own team. The impressive piece of work manages to be both positive about the Peace Corps and its role in the world, and yet honing in on the problems of the organization and suggesting how they can be fixed so that the volunteer base can be broadly expanded.

This bold new Peace Corps needs a bold new leader with the initiative, energy and decisiveness to turn the organization from a child of the Sixties until a vibrant creature of the 21st century. That's the immediate task the Obama administration has before it, choosing a new director and an equally impressive deputy director. With the added budget, they and their associates will have one of the greatest opportunities in government.

Rep. Berman has written a new beginning for the creation of a bold new Peace Corps. It's up to the rest of us now who care about the Peace Corps to work to see that it becomes a reality. The first thing we should all do is to call the White House at 202 456-1111 between 9 and 5 and tell the operator that we support a bold, new Peace Corps for the new century.

Comments

[SiberianRat]

I'm really encouraged by this. I have to say that recent years have seen a steep decline in quality of the program administration as well as the caliber of recruits. They were booted from Russia a few years ago partially because they were ineffective and more of a nuisance than a help in some cases (of course, there were some politics too). I'd love to see it re-bloom and do the good, important work it did years ago.

[Traci1965]

One thing that should be done is that the Peace Corps should form a coalition with organizations such as the Clinton Global Initiative­/Foundatio­n, Heifer International, and similar foundations and nonprofits. In doing so, they could streamline their efforts so there isn't overlapping of services.

The single biggest obstacle to recruiting volunteers is, simply, monetary. Most college students today graduate with a burden of student loan debt that will rival their future mortgage. If President Obama acted on his campaign promise to give college students vouchers for tuition, or student loan forgiveness, plus an interest-free hiatus on loan repayment during their term of service, that would be a big help. It would be especially helpful for young doctors, whose debt can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Service for the sake of service is a noble ideal that should always be promoted, but in these economic times, there should be added incentive to volunteer.

[RPCVguy]

There are some coalitions already with UN programs, but once volunteers get to their sites they usually work as a solo expatriate with a counterpart host country national. A primary need for much of their first year of service is to live with the local community. It is generally in the second year that a volunteer has the perspective of what locals see as possibilities and problems. It is in that second year that the mix of ideas from different cultures begins to produce sustainable ideas... things the locals can and likely will continue after the volunteer leaves. More coalitions would be very useful if they were available to volunteers extending their tours - as a strong support for other agencies in that country. This already occurs in the Peace Corps' experience of Crisis Corps Volunteers who often get hired on by other agencies.
About the money aspects, there are already limited student loan forgiveness options in place. More importantly, the government loans are suspended during the time a volunteer is in the field. Too much financial support could draw volunteers for "employment-like" reasons, enticing people with incongruent motivations. A problem with doctors serving in the Peace Corps is that they are trained to provide medicine, but the agency wants volunteers most often to TRAIN others in medical practices. Thus a large number of volunteers serving in the health assignments range from generalists, to nurses and those with degrees in public health administration.

[RPCVguy]

This article is drawing great comments about presidential influence and funding. Those about a new director and medical clearances particularly caught my attention.
Past directors have often used Peace Corps as a stepping stone rather than as the high mark of a career. Many take months just getting up to speed on what does or doesn’t work. I recommend someone I know only by reputation, who cares enough about the mission to have done recruiting, and whose credentials run strong in idealism international development and program management. James Arena-DeRosa has over 20 years of international development experience. He has worked with community organizations and government agencies in over 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. These include years as a Regional Director of the Peace Corps, and as the Director of Public Advocacy at Oxfam America.
Peace Corps remains the strongest influence on my life, leading to years of service both abroad and across the USA. I’ve had a creative and full career, most recently as a recruiter for the Peace Corps. I met extraordinary youth in that role, but also many fellow boomers. While health issues are very important, many boomers get snagged in red tape answering open ended medical questions. It’s one thing for younger volunteers to be asked “have you ever had…” but getting records and finding doctors who wrote things decades ago about conditions long past raises more problems than necessary.

[atroiano]

At our meetings with PC administration in March, PC officials reiterated their commitment to placing 50+ volunteers; consequently, PC Medical continues to make adjustments for health issues and takes age and medical conditions into consideration when placing older volunteers. In fact, they have been doing this in the last few years. For example, many older volunteers are placed in So. Africa where medical services are excellent and within a close proximity to their sites.
If you are interested in checking out medical screening guidelines, go to http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/2629/2055133.html

[Linda Bergthold - Huffpost Blogger]

We will, indeed, be sure that the President and the key Congressional leaders know how much we support the Peace Corps and this increased funding. But just increasing the size of the Peace Corps is not sufficient. As you point out, the Peace Corps needs bold new leadership, and some of the names that have circulated for the Directorship have not been particularly inspiring. The new Director should have been a Peace Corps Volunteer, but more importantly, should understand Kennedy's original three goals for the Peace Corps -- 1) To support social and economic development 2) To help the rest of the world learn more about us and 3) To educate the American public about the rest of the world through returing volunteers. There are thousands of returned Volunteers today who are giving back to their communities, including Sam Farr himself who was a PCV in Colombia. It's time for all of us to make our voices heard. It's time to grow the Peace Corps again.

[Charles White]

I strongly agree with your comment. Some names I suggested were Fareed Zakharia, the CNN reporter and Hans Rosling, chair of International Health at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Both underline international understanding and ties. Dr. Rosling has a stellar background in development at the micro level. He is less well known here but those interested can do a google search.

I'm also concerned that PC quality is compromised if it remains a government agency. Presidents less concerned about the agency than President Obama will too often appoint directors as a political courtesy.

I also think PC should be internationalized, perhaps as a part of UNDP's volunteer program. Americans can work alongside volunteers from other countries, and be involved in some exciting development programs created over the years by others. UN programs, Sach's millenium goals, and foundation programs come immediately to mind. I believe these changes will improv the quality of the experience of our volunteers while continuing to support Kennedy's original 3 goals.

[texanna]

I sincerely hope that the boueprint for improvements includes things other than more funding. Things like a better way to include older volunteers would be very helpful. Currently, the Peace Corps states that they are actively recruiting older volunteers, but in reality they are only doing so if the volunteer fits the health parameters of the younger volunteer. Boomers are at an age where they will have the time to pursue service and many would be interested in the Peace Corps as an opportunity they didn't take when they younger. They have life experience and skills to offer, but they are not 20-somethings. As healthy as they are as a generation, there are still things that you cannot control that happen as a natural degradation of the machine that is the human body. Volunteerism and service are not the purview of youth only.

[Citizen54]

Amen.
As a 50-year-old who would like to do something worthwhile with my remaining years, I hope someone from the PC hears you. I talked to them a few years ago, when I was merely in my 40s, and I got the strong sense I was being subtly shunned because of age.

Fifty is the new 70. Old and in the way.

[atroiano]

This is indeed good news. I couldn't get through to the operator, so I suggest you call Rep. Berman's office during business hours and thank him personally. His number is [phone].

[RajeevKumarGoyal]

Bold new Peace Corps! Go Berman! What guts that must have taken. What a great country we live in.