• October 1, 2004: Headlines: Diplomacy: Expansion: Scoop: [Full Story] Colin Powell says we're e're doubling the size of our Peace Corps at Southern Center for International Studies  Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 1:15 am [1]

Colin Powell says we're doubling the size of our Peace Corps at Southern Center for International Studies



Colin Powell says we're doubling the size of our Peace Corps at Southern Center for International Studies

Remarks at the Southern Center for International Studies


Secretary Colin L. Powell
Atlanta, Georgia
October 1, 2004

(9:15 a.m. EDT)


SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you all for that great Atlanta welcome, and Peter, thank you for the gracious introduction. It is something of a homecoming for me. I was privileged to be stationed at Fort McPherson a number of years ago as the Commanding Officer of Forces Command, and then when I left here and went to the Pentagon to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and then ultimately retired from the Army from that position, I nevertheless would come down to Atlanta on many occasions, as Peter noted, with my work with America's Promise, but especially with my work as a member of the Board of Governors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, a role that gave me a great deal of satisfaction, and one of the greatest programs we've seen for volunteerism in this country. And when I created America's Promise and became its Chairman, my very best partner in that program were the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. It's a privilege to be a part of the organization that grew those clubs from roughly 1,000 back in 1997 or thereabouts, now approaching or slightly over 3,000, a remarkable increase in a service that is provided to American young people.

[Excerpt]

We're doubling the size of our Peace Corps; they do great work. We're scaling up all of those programs, but he said we've got to do more than that. We've got to invest in those nations that are committed to democracy, that are solidly anchored in the rule of law, that will have nothing to do with corruption, and who are investing in their people and who believe in a democratic future for their nation based on human rights and individual dignity.

When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview PCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before. Plus the debate continues over Safety and Security.

Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?

Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and can you come up with a Political Funny?

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