2008.04.27: April 27, 2008: Headlines: Fellows: Community Development: Americorps: Peoria Journal Star: The Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs offers the Peace Corps Fellows Program in Community Development

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Peace Corps Library: Fellows: January 23, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Fellows Program and Peace Corps Fellows Programs : 2008.04.27: April 27, 2008: Headlines: Fellows: Community Development: Americorps: Peoria Journal Star: The Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs offers the Peace Corps Fellows Program in Community Development

By Admin1 (admin) (ppp-70-251-52-136.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 70.251.52.136) on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 10:51 am: Edit Post

The Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs offers the Peace Corps Fellows Program in Community Development

The Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs  offers the Peace Corps Fellows Program in Community Development

"Small communities, everybody knows everybody's business," Mauldin-Curtis said. "Everybody has a history with each other. Sometimes even the best ideas can't move forward because they are deep-seated personal agendas. Just having a neutral, outside party to come in and take those good ideas that already exist right there - because they're neutral they're able to gently move things forward."

The Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs offers the Peace Corps Fellows Program in Community Development

Fellows program associated with Western Illinois University requires mission first

Sunday, April 27, 2008

By RYAN ORI

OF THE JOURNAL STAR
The Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs uses a different type of AmeriCorps volunteers: ones who already have done Peace Corps missions abroad.

Affiliated with Western Illinois University, the IIRA's goal is to improve rural areas by boosting economic development, technology, health care, housing, transportation and other aspects of life.

The IIRA helps accomplish that goal through a traditional AmeriCorps VISTA program, but it also offers the Peace Corps Fellows Program in Community Development.

Fellows are recruited to a master's program - economics, political science, geography, community health, tourism administration or MBA - upon completing a Peace Corps mission. They do two or three semesters of work in the classroom while serving a graduate assistantship that offers a tuition waiver and living stipend. Fellows then complete degree work by spending 11 months living and working in a rural town, receiving living expenses as AmeriCorps volunteers.

The fellows program currently has seven graduate students in the classroom and five in the field. Fellows in the field currently are working on projects in the northwestern Illinois towns of Lena and Morrison, in Fulton County and in southern Illinois. Another fellow is based in Macomb and is providing technical training to communities throughout the state.

Karen Mauldin-Curtis, a former fellow after she did a Peace Corps mission to the Dominican Republic in the 1990s, is manager of the fellows program.

"Small communities, everybody knows everybody's business," Mauldin-Curtis said. "Everybody has a history with each other. Sometimes even the best ideas can't move forward because they are deep-seated personal agendas. Just having a neutral, outside party to come in and take those good ideas that already exist right there - because they're neutral they're able to gently move things forward."

A rural community must provide a $22,500 sponsorship, which allows the IIRA to cover a fellow's living expenses, training and travel. Because they are students at WIU, fellows also receive health care.

Mauldin-Curtis said fellows are assigned to communities with a clear plan of how to implement changes.

Fellows typically help communities do tasks such as feasibility studies, grant writing, surveys, volunteer management, training, administration and technology upgrades.

"During the planning process, people get all excited," said Chris Merrett, director of the IIRA. "They can imagine a better downtown, better jobs or a better school system. But then within a week or two of those meetings ending, real life comes crashing back down on them. There's a 50-hour-a-week job, plus coaching Little League, caring for an elderly mother-in-law ...

"That momentum fades pretty quickly. The role of the Peace Corps fellow is to take that initial momentum and keep the community moving forward."

More than 90 students have completed the fellows program since it was created in 1994.

"Our hope," Mauldin-Curtis said, "is that when the fellow leaves at the end of 11 months, not only will they have been able to accomplish a number of projects while they were there, but that they have left the community better able to continue those projects."

For more information on the fellows program, log on to www.peacecorpsfellows-wiu.org or call (800) 526-9943.

Ryan Ori can be reached at 686-3264 or rori@pjstar.com.




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: April, 2008; Fellows; Community Development; Americorps; Illinois





When this story was posted in April 2008, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Contact PCOLBulletin BoardRegisterSearch PCOLWhat's New?

Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers RSS Feed
Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act Date: October 27 2007 No: 1206 Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act
Senator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped this administration violate the civil liberties of Americans. "It is time to say: No more. No more trampling on our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are fundamental, basic, eternal principles. They have been around, some of them, for as long as the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them."

Peace Corps News Peace Corps Library Peace corps History RPCV Directory Sign Up

March 2, 2008: This Month's Top Stories Date: March 2 2008 No: 1236 March 2, 2008: This Month's Top Stories
Bush Meets with PCVs in Ghana 20 Feb
Jack Vaughn writes: Candidates 'discover' Peace Corps 28 Feb
Dan Lavin is going back to Sierra Leone 25 Feb
Peace Corps Returns to Rwanda 19 Feb
Doug Roberts returns to Vanuatu where son died 17 Feb
Paul H. Johnson writes: Criticism of Peace Corps 12 Feb
Doctoral Fellowship created for RPCVs at UC Berkeley 11 Feb
Jessi Griffin recovering after accident in Mozambique 10 Feb
Super delegates like Pat Waak are super important 6 Feb
Peace Corps pulls its volunteers out of Kenya 5 Feb
Robert Whittemore starts African Film Festival 4 Feb
Heidi Vogt writes: Modernity arrives via Cellphone 1 Feb
Bush's PC pledge nothing more than hot air 31 Jan
P. F. Kluge speaks in Saipan 28 Jan
600 RPCVs work in NY City Schools 27 Jan
Jim Walsh will be missed in Congress 25 Jan
Wisconsin RPCVs sponsor Freeze for Food 23 Jan
Maria Shriver reflects on Sargent Shriver 21 Jan
Mae Jemison says King's dream is call to action 20 Jan
André-Guy Soh remembers John Granville 16 Jan
Gaddi Vasquez addresses Placentia Rotary 16 Jan

New: More Stories from January and February 2008

What is Wrong at the US Embassy in Bolivia? Date: February 10 2008 No: 1227 What is Wrong at the US Embassy in Bolivia?
Last summer Peace Corps Inspector General David Kotz cited the lack of cooperation from the US embassy in Bolivia in the search for missing Peace Corps Volunteer Walter Poirier III. Now a member of the US Embassy Staff in Bolivia is accused of asking Peace Corps Volunteers "to basically spy" on Cubans and Venezuelans in the country. Could US Ambassador Philip S.Goldberg please explain what is going on at the embassy that he has been running in La Paz since 2006?



Read the stories and leave your comments.








Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Peoria Journal Star

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Fellows; Community Development; Americorps

PCOL41301
75


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: