Advocacy
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National Peace Corps Association > News > Advocacy > Meet Boston’s New Advocacy Liaison
Meet Boston’s New Advocacy Liaison
By Zulay Carrillo on Monday, July 30th, 2012
L to R: Boston Area RPCV Advocacy Liaison Vanessa Porter (Honduras 08-10) with group President Lisa Frederick (Mali 04-06)
“The best gift I ever got was being selected as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and I want to make sure people have that opportunity. And that starts with getting our Congressmen and Senators to know about the Peace Corps and support it.”
Those wise words come from Vanessa Porter (Honduras 08-10), of Brighton, Massachusetts. Vanessa is the new Advocacy Liaison for the Boston Area RPCVs (BARPCV).
Vanessa and other Boston RPCVs participated in an advocacy workshop sponsored by the NPCA and BARPCV
Vanessa was one of seven members of the local Peace Corps community who participated in a July 27th advocacy workshop co-sponsored by BARPCV and the NPCA. But that’s not the first time we met her. Vanessa caught our attention last March when she joined us on Capitol Hill during our 8th Annual National Day of Action in Support of the Peace Corps.
“(Peace Corps) was a big part of your life. It’s important to remember it, honor it and get involved”, says Vanessa. “A lot of times we say we don’t have time to get involved, but during the workshop, we talked about how sometimes, if you have just one minute, there are actions we can take. And, everyone has one minute!” And perhaps more. During the Boston workshop and at its close, several participants indicated they might have some free time to assist Vanessa with Boston-area advocacy initiatives. Contact information is being exchanged, and it appears that the Bay State’s excellent advocacy past and present is going to get even stronger in the future!
If you are interested in learning more about becoming an NPCA Advocacy Liaison for your state or region, contact us at advocacy@peacecorpsconnect.org
The second leg of NPCA’s Summer Advocacy Road Trip resumes on August 10th. Stops in Maine, New York and New Jersey are in the works. Follow this link for complete details and join us if you can!
