Morocco RPCV Dave Keiser is doing an 11-month internship in Carroll County as part of WIU's returned Peace Corps Fellow program. His first goal is to file the paperwork to form a development corporation.



Morocco RPCV Dave Keiser is doing an 11-month internship in Carroll County as part of WIU's returned Peace Corps Fellow program. His first goal is to file the paperwork to form a development corporation.

From Morocco to Macomb
Intern at work in Mt. Carroll

By Diane Komiskey

January 18, 2005

MOUNT CARROLL - It is Jan. 13, his fourth day on the job, and Dave Keiser is returning to his office.

Keiser has been across Main Street, at the Carroll County Courthouse, attending one of many meetings on his calendar. He opens the door on the right at the end of a hall in the Mt. Carroll City Hall.

The space is just large enough to hold the essentialsa desk, computer, printer, phone, file cabinet, bookshelves and coffee makerand have room for a guest. The city provided the space. Donors helped equip it.

The broad-shouldered, blue-eyed, blonde takes a seat in front of a computer that links him by the Internet to the world.

His white polo shirt contrasts with the blue in a map on the white wall above his desk. The map reminds him of where he is and the distance to Morocco, a nation in northwest Africa south of Spain. Keiser served in the Muslim kingdom as a Peace Corps member 1998-2000. And from 2001-2003 he taught English at the kingdom's American Language Center.

Earlier, he earned an undergraduate degree in biology and pre-medicine. But after his overseas experience, he abandoned thoughts of becoming a doctor to earn a master's degree in economics from Western Illinois University at Macomb.

A return to his roots called. He wanted to work in rural development. The opportunity arose in northwest Illinois.

Keiser is doing an 11-month internship in Carroll County as part of WIU's returned Peace Corps Fellow program. His first goal is to file the paperwork to form a development corporation.

The process entails creating a steering committee. The group of 10-15 people will write a mission or vision statement and approve bylaws, determine the size, makeup and representation on the corporation's board and decide how to fund its activities.

"If you are interested in the future of Carroll County, come see me, come talk to me," said Keiser. "I'm looking for positive, talented, creative people."

He will help them focus their energy on creating an entity to replace the many volunteer groups that have tried to carry out countywide economic development.

Their successes have been few in the county of 16,700 residents in northwest Illinois. The volunteers lacked the time and expertise for sustained success.

The latest group decided to seek professional help. The group, the County Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, CEDS committee, secured Keiser's help. Now it is his turn to search.

CEDS Committee member Cathy Brunner said she was pleased to learn how many people have already dropped by to meet Keiser.

"I am looking for a non-political, unbiased representation of the county with its primary goal economic development and sustaining the county for the future," Keiser said. "Business retirement and expansion will be a big part of it."

If the group is to be representative of the county, many of its members must come from the agricultural segment. That would suit Keiser. He spent years as a 4-H and FFA member and helping his father on the family farm in Nebraska where they raised grain and beef cattle near a town of 2,000.

Keiser plans to focus on the positive, the county's attributes and how best to promote them. He sees the work as a grassroots effort, action taken from the bottom up by county citizens.

The work likely will involve skills he learned at Macomb, where he worked on wind energy and other value-added agriculture programs. He built them atop abilities honed in Marrakech, Morocco, where he designed, wrote grants and worked as a volunteer on sustainable agricultural projects.

The young man with a Peace Corps member's experience begins his career in economic development down a long, narrow corridor in a room decorated with a cartographer's view of the world.

When this story was posted in January 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Ask Not As our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

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January 15, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Bellamy finishing term - Veneman to head Unicef 15 Jan 230 RPCVs volunteer for Crisis Corps 14 Jan Peace Corps Fund needs silent auction items 12 Jan Matt Gould in one-man Peace Corps show in Hollywood 12 Jan Taylor Hackford's "Ray" Nominated for Golden Globe 12 Jan Ambassador Johnson shares memories of Thailand 11 Jan Senator Dodd suggests PC return to Venezuela 11 Jan Ambassador Hull wants PC to return to Sierra Leone 11 Jan Poiriers unhappy with PC investigation of missing son 10 Jan Emile Hons reflects on the Deborah Gardner murder case 10 Jan Judge Paul A. Bastine criticized for stalling Divorce 6 Jan Volunteer Patricia D. Scatoloni dies in Macedonia 4 Jan more top stories...

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Coleman: Peace Corps mission and expansion Senator Norm Coleman, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee that oversees the Peace Corps, says in an op-ed, A chance to show the world America at its best: "Even as that worthy agency mobilizes a "Crisis Corps" of former Peace Corps volunteers to assist with tsunami relief, I believe an opportunity exists to rededicate ourselves to the mission of the Peace Corps and its expansion to touch more and more lives."

RPCVs active in new session of Congress In the new session of Congress that begins this week, RPCV Congressman Tom Petri has a proposal to bolster Social Security, Sam Farr supported the objection to the Electoral College count, James Walsh has asked for a waiver to continue heading a powerful Appropriations subcommittee, Chris Shays will no longer be vice chairman of the Budget Committee, and Mike Honda spoke on the floor honoring late Congressman Robert Matsui.

Latest: RPCVs and Peace Corps provide aid Peace Corps made an appeal last week to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps and more than 30 RPCVs have responded so far. RPCVs: Read what an RPCV-led NGO is doing about the crisis an how one RPCV is headed for Sri Lanka to help a nation he grew to love. Question: Is Crisis Corps going to send RPCVs to India, Indonesia and nine other countries that need help?

The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005.

Changing of the Guard With Lloyd Pierson's departure, Marie Wheat has been named acting Chief of Staff and Chief of Operations responsible for the day-to-day management of the Peace Corps. Although Wheat is not an RPCV and has limited overseas experience, in her two years at the agency she has come to be respected as someone with good political skills who listens and delegates authority and we wish her the best in her new position.

Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia."

RPCV safe after Terrorist Attack RPCV Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the U.S. consul general in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia survived Monday's attack on the consulate without injury. Five consular employees and four others were killed. Abercrombie-Winstanley, the first woman to hold the position, has been an outspoken advocate of rights for Arab women and has met with Saudi reformers despite efforts by Saudi leaders to block the discussions.

Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors.

The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn.

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