Kul Chandra Gautam: Relevance of the Peace Corps in the post-COVID World
A host country perspective from Nepal. Remarks from the July 2020 global ideas summit: Peace Corps Connect to the Future. By Kul Chandra Gautam On July 18, 2020, National Peace Corps Association hosted Peace Corps Connect to the Future, a global ideas summit. NPCA invited three winners of the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award to share their perspectives. Here are remarks delivered by Kul Chandra Gautam — diplomat, public policy expert, and peace advocate — and former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. I want to thank National Peace Corps Association for this opportunity to share my views on the future of the Peace Corps...
Mohamud Said: The Main Aim of Peace Corps is to Empower People
A host country perspective from Kenya. Remarks from the July 18, 2020 global ideas summit: Peace Corps Connect to the Future. By Dr. Mohamud Sheikh Nurein Said On July 18, 2020, National Peace Corps Association hosted Peace Corps Connect to the Future, a global ideas summit. NPCA invited three winners of the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award to share their perspectives. Here are remarks delivered by Dr. Mohamud Sheikh Nurein Said — volunteer, philanthropist, and humanitarian engaged in a wide range of medical service and human rights activities on the local, national, and international levels. Below is an edited version...
Peace Corps Today
Address by the Director of the Peace Corps to the July 2020 global ideas summit: Peace Corps Connect to the Future By Jody Olsen On July 18, 2020, National Peace Corps Association hosted Peace Corps Connect to the Future, a global ideas summit. NPCA invited Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen to speak. She was introduced by Glenn Blumhorst, President and CEO of National Peace Corps Association. Her remarks come a week after Peace Corps signed a historic agreement for launching a program with Viet Nam in 2022. And they come as the COVID-19 pandemic makes the future for all international...
Pandemic has changed our community forever. Another disease we must fight: racism itself.
By Glenn Blumhorst DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE when you heard the news? That the U.S. Peace Corps had made the difficult and unprecedented decision to suspend programs indefinitely, evacuating 7,300 volunteers serving in more than 60 countries due to coronavirus, and informing them that their service had ended. That more than 100,000 Americans had died from COVID-19. That more than 40 million had applied for unemployment. That George Floyd had died after a policeman in Minneapolis pressed a knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. But George Floyd’s name is only one of a...
Our Peace Corps Evacuation Journey
The Director of the Peace Corps chronicles the events that led to an unprecedented global evacuation of Volunteers. And the hardest decision she’s had to make in her life. By Jody Olsen I will always remember 2 p.m. on March 15, 2020, as the moment I made the most difficult decision of my life. I had just received a call from Patrick Young, the Peace Corps’ Director of International Operations, who himself had spent the previous 24 hours in phone conversations with almost every one of our country directors around the world. Each told him of impending host-country...
Signs Look Promising for the Next Peace Corps Budget
Appropriations Committee in House of Representatives signals ongoing Congressional support. But this is just a first step. By Jonathan Pearson Amid growing talk of another round of COVID-19 emergency relief legislation, Congress is moving along with some of its regular responsibilities. This includes the annual appropriations process where the initial, early returns pertaining to Peace Corps are positive. Early Thursday afternoon, the full House Appropriations Committee passed (on a party line vote) a proposed Fiscal Year 2021 State/Foreign Operations spending plan that includes steady funding of $410.5 million for Peace Corps. The bill will next go to the full House...
The Peace Corps in the Post-Pandemic World
COVID-19 upended systems. Now we’re focused on structural racism like never before. So how can Peace Corps help this nation live up to its ideals? By Lex Rieffel Illustration by Sandra Dionsi / Theispot The COVID-19 pandemic that erupted at the beginning of this year massively disrupted behavior that has for a long time been taken for granted — between people and between nations. Then in May the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis under the knee of a policeman sparked unprecedented demonstrations around the world to end systemic racial discrimination and improve social justice. Years will pass before new patterns of...
Save the Date: Peace Corps Connect for the Future on July 18
We’re convening for an ideas summit to ask some big questions about the Peace Corps community in a changed world. In the next few weeks, we’re also bringing together members of the Peace Corps community around issues of racial injustice and climate change — to help shape our agenda for the future. In March 2020, Peace Corps Volunteers were evacuated globally because of a global pandemic still taking its toll. That created an unprecedented and enormous challenge on its own. We want to help reignite the work of Peace Corps around the world. So how do we do that, and...
Here’s a Summary of Peace Corps COVID-19 Related Legislation
Congressional response to the COVID-19 pandemic includes various legislative initiatives that fully or partially seek to support Peace Corps and the 7,300+ evacuated Volunteers. Here’s a summary of the key legislation that is currently under consideration. Support this Legislation! Follow this link to write your members of Congress in support of any/all of the following legislation. Senate Legislation Senate Bill 3700 (S. 3700) NPCA worked closely on drafting this legislation that extends the period through which evacuees could purchase Peace Corps post-service health insurance; instructs Peace Corps to reopen programs as soon as practicable and expedites redeployment of evacuees; and promotes opportunities for...
BREAKING NEWS: House Legislation Proposes Rescinding Peace Corps COVID-19 Funds. Here’s action you can take.
Legislation would jeopardize funds that provided for health and safety of more than 7,300 evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers amid global pandemic. Let’s keep that from happening. While there has been significant legislation introduced to support Peace Corps and evacuated volunteers, a South Carolina Congressman has announced legislation that would — in part — rescind the $88 million in emergency appropriations approved earlier for Peace Corps. Congressman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) has introduced H.R. 6657, the Working Under Humanity’s Actual Needs (WUHAN) Rescissions Act, which calls for eliminating more than $27 billion from the CARES Act legislation that was overwhelmingly approved by Congress...