More Peace Corps: Bigger and Bolder
Rajeev Goyal, Campaign Coordinator
The More Peace Corps campaign is the best opportunity we have seen to not only scale up but also revitalize the Peace Corps experience and inspire a new generation of the best and brightest to serve. And President- elect Obama has promised to do just that (see www.change.gov/americaserves). The More Peace Corps campaign has built a powerful grassroots activist movement to keep the pressure on him to meet this pledge, with over 5,000 online supporters and 100 prominent champions, including Jimmy Carter, Senator Chris Dodd, and Representative Sam Farr.
Where will 8,000 additional volunteers go and what will they do? There are more than 20 countries asking for Peace Corps, a list likely to grow during President Obama’s term in office. But More Peace Corps is advocating not just for more volunteers, but a doubling of the funding of Peace Corps, and resources to improve its performance. The next director, RPCV or not, must be willing to innovate and take chances.
The bigger, better, bolder Peace Corps we are fighting for must make a greater difference in protecting the environment, building potable water systems, and combating HIV/AIDS. I personally feel that Peace Corps must invest much more in environmental protection campaigns by training volunteers in alternative energy technologies and sustainable architecture concepts. Imagine Peace Corps volunteers working on building greener capital cities in developing nations, or working with world governments to combat the depletion of wildlife in the oceans. In the 1960s, volunteers in Tunisia designed entire cities. This is what we mean by bolder. Peace Corps volunteers must be willing to fight difficult problems in challenging conditions. They must be willing to learn.
But what is our strategy for moving the campaign forward? How can we achieve a better and bolder Peace Corps and what can you and I do for the campaign? President-elect Obama alone cannot double the Peace Corps budget by 2011. Support must be built in the Congress, particularly the House and Senate subcommittees for state, foreign operations, and related programs. If you can do only one thing for this campaign, that should be downloading a sample letter from the home page of morepeacecorps.org and contacting your lawmakers. Many of you are born activists who do not need to review our letter and can probably write something much better. I ask you to please take action. A hundred letters to each of the subcommittee members, if personalized, compelling, and professional, will make a splash. If you can meet with your lawmaker (not a staffer) and present the case for greater investment in the Peace Corps, that would make an even greater difference. I can help you prepare for that meeting.
How far are you willing to go for the Peace Corps? Think about what it has meant for your own life and consider that hundreds of applicants are being given one-year deferrals because there’s an $18 million shortfall. Imagine if that had happened to you when you applied. Consider that the Defense Department may ask for billions of extra dollars this year. We cannot afford to sit still. We must all be leaders in this movement.
Why is this congressional outreach so important? Even if a bill to expand the Peace Corps budget is passed, the subcommittee is not required to increase the Peace Corps budget! This is why past efforts to grow the Peace Corps have failed.
I have talked with some 40 Capitol Hill staffers in the last nine months and many say it will be difficult to increase Peace Corps this year because of the "economic crisis." So we are very concerned, because we have only 5,000 activists and 200,000 former volunteers and staff.
In terms of the Better and Bolder strategy, questions remain as to whether legislation is needed to implement the changes or whether a bold new director with more funding in the Peace Corps treasury and a new, more innovative culture in the Peace Corps can do the trick. To capture as many ideas as possible, More Peace Corps will roll out a survey, organize town hall meetings, and develop a letter to the new President and the next PC director based on what we hear is most important to you. The More Peace Corps forums are also a great way to express yourself.
More Peace Corps belongs to all of us. President-elect Obama's message is about hope and idealism. Revitalizing service in the Peace Corps is a cost-effective way to inspire a generation of "Obama's Kids." When you build a movement to double the Peace Corps budget, you inspire the best and the brightest to get involved.
Contact Rajeev at www.MorePeaceCorps.org, or call his cell phone: 516-984-7138.