2010.09.23: Senator Dodd speaks at Peace Corps Headquarters

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Senator Dodd speaks at Peace Corps Headquarters

Senator Dodd speaks at Peace Corps Headquarters

"As the Peace Corps approaches its 50th Anniversary, we celebrate one of the most radical ideas I know - that a great nation should send its people abroad, not to extend its power, not to intimidate its enemies, but to build, to dig, to teach, and to ask nothing in return," said Dodd. "Never let us lose that spirit, that idealism, that ambition that led a young President of a young nation, John F. Kennedy, to ask a generation to serve. Now is the time to strengthen and renew the Peace Corps as it prepares for its next 50 years of service in the 21st century."

Senator Dodd speaks at Peace Corps Headquarters

Peace Corps Hosts Senator Dodd, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 23, 2010 – The Peace Corps welcomed returned Peace Corps volunteer, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., as part of the Loret Miller Ruppe Speaker Series.

Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams introduced the senator, who recounted his experiences serving in the Dominican Republic and discussed the agency's role in encouraging Americans to serve overseas. After Dodd's remarks, Director Williams and Dodd fielded questions from Peace Corps employees and returned volunteers in the audience. Peace Corps' nine regional recruiting offices were also tuned into the speaker series event via video conference.

Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams (Dominican Republic, 1967-1970) and Sen. Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic, 1966-1968)."Senator Dodd has been a great friend to Peace Corps and I'm proud that his service overseas has helped shaped his legacy in Congress," said Director Williams. "Over the course of his 30-plus years in Congress, Senator Dodd has met with hundreds of volunteers around the world and he has been a tremendous advocate for the Peace Corps. He has consistently fought to increase funding and the number of volunteers who serve in the Peace Corps."

"As the Peace Corps approaches its 50th Anniversary, we celebrate one of the most radical ideas I know - that a great nation should send its people abroad, not to extend its power, not to intimidate its enemies, but to build, to dig, to teach, and to ask nothing in return," said Dodd. "Never let us lose that spirit, that idealism, that ambition that led a young President of a young nation, John F. Kennedy, to ask a generation to serve. Now is the time to strengthen and renew the Peace Corps as it prepares for its next 50 years of service in the 21st century."

Sen. Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic, 1966-1968).Peace Corps' Loret Miller Ruppe Speakers Series honors the agency's longest serving director and is a forum for distinguished individuals to speak about issues related to the Peace Corps' mission such as volunteering, public service, and international peace and development.

Dodd was a Peace Corps volunteer from July 1966 to September 1968 serving in the rural Dominican Republic village of Moncion. As a volunteer he worked with rural communities to help build a maternity hospital, two schools, and a youth club. According to Dodd's description of his Peace Corps volunteer service in 1968, he collected Indian relics, travelled throughout the island, visited Haiti, and built an "A" frame house out of local materials.

Dodd has been a Member of Congress since 1974. He has served for five terms representing Connecticut in the U.S. Senate and three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.




Senator Chris Dodd's Vision for the Future of Peace Corps

Senator Chris Dodd's Vision for the Future of Peace Corps

Senator Chris Dodd spoke at the Shriver Awards in 2006 about his vision for the future of the Peace Corps and his plans to introduce legislation to set aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget for third goal activities, to allocate funds for seed money for demonstration projects, more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects.

"In the Peace Corps, I decided, criticism and praise are much the same thing," said Dodd. "As a matter of fact, the Peace Corps is one sustained exercise in self-criticism, and that's just its strength. For our young men and women, living and serving among poverty is an implicit censure of their relative wealth. Learning to serve and work with our hands is a self-criticism, because it confronts us with our weaknesses. And more: Sargent Shriver has said, in a phrase that ought to be embroidered here on our tablecloths, "Peace Corps Volunteers come home to the USA realizing that there are billions-yes, billions-of human beings not enraptured by our pretensions, or our practices, or even our standards of conduct." So I realized that criticism is exactly what the Peace Corps wants, because its life is criticism. And we can't honor it any better than taking the rigors it applied to each of us in our turn, and turning them back on the source."


Senator Chris Dodd's Vision for the Future of Peace Corps

Sen. Dodd Outlines Vision for Future of Peace Corps

September 14, 2006

Washington -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), himself a former Peace Corps volunteer, today addressed the National Peace Corps Association's Capitol Hill Luncheon in honor of the Peace Corp's 45th anniversary. The following is the text of his prepared remarks:

Remarks By

Senator Christopher J. Dodd

National Peace Corps Association's Capitol Hill Lunch

in Celebration of the Peace Corps's 45th Anniversary

Thursday, September 14, 2006

In the summer of 1966, I was carrying a 30-pound backpack for five miles through the mountains of the Dominican Republic, and as the sweat ran down my face, my socks dissolved inside my boots, and several dozen large insects ate me alive, I remember thinking, very distinctly-"This'll make a great introduction for my speech to the National Peace Corps Association!"

When President Kennedy created the Peace Corps in 1961, I was just 17 years old, and now the Corps is 45, and I'm……well……not very good at math. But what joy it gives me to celebrate almost half a century for the organization that molded my life and the lives of so many here. I want to recognize some of our friends who owe the whole shape of their lives to the Peace Corps: There's Kevin Quigley, President of the NPCA, and Carrie Hessler-Radelet of the NPCA Board. I also want to recognize Barbara Ferris, co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund and currently President of the International Women's Democracy Center. Earlier this year, Barbara ran for Congress from Ohio's 10th District in the Democratic primary; and even though you didn't win, Barbara, I hope you'll stay engaged in politics-we need more returned volunteers in public life. Finally, my dear friend Carol Bellamy, who serves on the NPCA Advisory Council; and, of course, my dear friend and colleague, Senator Harris Wofford.

I don't think I can add anything to Harris's introduction of our Shriver Award winner, Loren Finnell, nor to Mr. Finnell's own fine remarks-except to add how much we need more work like Mr. Finnell's, which empowers the people of developing nations to mend their own world. That word, "empower," gets thrown around so often these days we tend to forget what it means. It means, literally, that we take power out of the hands of ourselves, and people like us, and put it in the hands of the people who most need it. Doing that in earnest truly needs a humble heart.

Finally, I want to acknowledge Peace Corps volunteers Justin Brady and Matthew S. Costa, and returned volunteer Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul, all of whom served more fully than has been asked of any of us here; who all, this month, died in the service of their country.

The organization we celebrate today owes its existence to two speeches given by John F. Kennedy during his 1960 presidential campaign. They are very much our founding documents, and today I want to look at them in some detail. First, because as I read President Kennedy's words, you're going to see me getting handsomer and handsomer, and more charismatic by the minute before your very eyes. And second, because they deserve to be looked at together, as a matched pair in which we see the two poles of our purpose.

In November of 1960, a week before the election, Kennedy spoke at an auditorium in San Francisco-and lest we get too boastful about our great Peace Corps, let's remember that the Peace Corps was first officeally conceived in an address at the so-called "Cow Palace." At any rate, JFK rose to speak with the goal of proving that he was the stronger candidate on national security, that his approach to defense and foreign policy would confront our enemies with greater nimbleness and superior strength.

This was key to the Peace Corps's original context, and when we read his words, we find that the recurring concept isn't "goodwill," or "development," or "service." It's-"the Russians." I'll quote a sampling of sentences:

* "Diplomats skilled in the languages and customs of the nation to whom they are accredited…are pouring forth from Moscow to advance the cause of world communism."

* "The Lenin Institute for Political Warfare exports each year hundreds of agents to disrupt free institutions in the uncommitted world."

* "Already Asia has more Soviet than American technicians."

* "I am convinced that our young men and women, dedicated to freedom, are fully capable of overcoming the efforts of Mr. Khrushchev's missionaries who are dedicated to undermining that freedom."

The truth is that Soviet communism was hovering over the birth of our Peace Corps like an evil spirit; and President Kennedy conceived the Corps, in part, as a weapon for the ideological struggle. Obviously not as a weapon of war-but JFK's point was just that weapons of war would no longer suffice. In sending muscle and know-how to the Third World, in fighting to lift up the destitute, in a thousand painful acts, the Peace Corps was also doing America's work: Our reputation thrives when the world sees our ideals not just in ink, but incarnate in the young man or woman with dirty hands who is working in the sun beside you.

So President Kennedy had the foresight to know that sometimes our virtues and our needs line up-that we can serve others and ourselves in one act. And he had the wisdom to see that there are more measurements for strength than caliber or tonnage or blast-radius.

Peace Corps enlistment spiked 23% after the attacks of 9/11, and I seriously doubt that any of our new volunteers were shipping off to fight the Red Menace. But JFK's point still stands, and our new volunteers get it-the Peace Corps always was and will be a force for our interests. In this generation, it's our unique challenge that our interests are so, so hard to put a finger or a label on. Who exactly are our enemies? Where are they hiding? Who can we fight, who can we convince, who can we serve to say with certainty that our war is getting won? The difficulty of these questions makes up our generation's central test, and simple answers will only buy us failure.

But this much we can agree on: You can only hate America if you don't know America. And in all the controversies of the past five years, all the vagaries of strategy and tactics and plan and counterplan, there's one policy that guarantees success: sending our best young men and women into the world to make America known.

Never in our history has it been more critical that the Peace Corps succeed in its mission to "promote world peace and friendship." As we all know, the Corps seeks to advance both a better understanding of Americans and better understanding by Americans; and those goals are especially central if we want to effectively counter the spread of terrorist ideology to disaffected people around the world, people who, after all, know as little of us as we know of them. So is the Peace Corps an instrument of policy? Absolutely it is.

But if I stopped here, I'd only have half a speech; and if we stopped here, we'd only have half a Corps. (A Peace Torso, perhaps?) To cynics, the Peace Corps is only an instrument of policy. They read the Kennedy speech and say, "Aha-a faux-idealistic campaign ploy! An empty tough-on-commies gesture!" Richard Nixon called the Peace Corps "a haven for draft-dodgers." Even Dwight Eisenhower said it was "a juvenile experiment." To others, the Corps was merely a convenient cloak for imperialism. I've read a 1961 article from the Red Flag, an official Communist Party newspaper, which accuses us of the following: The Peace Corps is "nothing but an organ of new colonialism, a sly trick in the pernicious juggling of diplomacy by remote control, a tool with which to subvert underdeveloped countries so that they might become puppets of America….We do not recognize all the rot about its humanitarianism."

And you know what? If we stopped here, they might have half a point. But the Peace Corps didn't stop here, and neither do we.



Peace Corps Online

Caption: Well after midnight on October 14, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy arrived at the steps of the Michigan Union. In a short speech he outlined the idea of the Peace Corps, challenging students "to contribute part of your life to this country."

We go back to October of 1960, two weeks before San Francisco, and we remember that John Kennedy arrived at the University of Michigan in the dark and was surprised by a crowd of 10,000 waiting students, and that the Peace Corps was born at two in the morning. The San Francisco speech was anticipated weeks in advance, prepared by Ted Sorensen and a team of foreign policy experts; but no one planned for the speech in Ann Arbor. Our Peace Corps wasn't even launched in a statement, but with a question: "How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world?" President Kennedy didn't have an organization for this idea, he didn't have funding-he didn't even have a name for it! But this is exactly where we trace our origin, before bureaucracy, before executive orders, all the way back to the spontaneous and nameless need.

I don't know exactly why the idea came to Kennedy on the steps of the Michigan Union; but if any of us should ever be lucky enough to have 10,000 young men and women waiting for hours to see us outdoors in the cold, I'd hope we could come up with something as meaningful.

So yes, the Peace Corps was a weapon in the Cold War, and yes, it remains a tool for the War on Terror; but if it was just that, there's no way it would have drawn us back here today. As I said, there are two poles to its purpose. There are the purpose-full agents who show our strength and our virtue abroad. But there is also President Kennedy's unscripted will to serve, his unplanned plan and the 30,000 letters to his campaign that answered it. The Peace Corps is both of these things, and because it is both, it is unique among our institutions.

And so many of us have come back today, I think, because the Peace Corps is something of an allegory for our own lives and our own selves-how difficult it is to reconcile the calculating side of our intelligence with the part that wants to roll up its sleeves and dig a well-but what great things we can achieve when we join the two. For almost half a century-and, we hope, another to come-the Peace Corps has been such a success because it has bridged this gap with such grace.

But does that make the Peace Corps an unadulterated success? Of course not-perfect successes only exist in propaganda and campaign commercials. Every chance I get I take the opportunity to speak with active and returned volunteers about what we can do to make the Peace Corps better, and they aren't short on suggestions. Good! We should be proud to have so many volunteers who return from abroad with so many ideas.

I've taken the best of these ideas and worked to flesh them out into legislation, which I hope to bring to the floor of the Senate in the near future. But before I do that, I'll of course circulate draft legislation for review to all interested members of the Peace Corps community, and I'll welcome your comments. For now, here are some of the ideas I'm working on:

* We should set aside a portion of the annual Peace Corps budget as seed monies; the funds could go to active volunteers for demonstration projects at their sites and for returned volunteers interested in "third goal" projects at home. Of course, this would mean adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense.

* We should authorize active volunteers to accept, under certain carefully defined circumstances, private donations to support their development projects.

* We should establish mechanisms for more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, including staffing decisions, site selection, language training, and country programs.

* We can bring the Peace Corps into the digital age by establishing websites and email links for use by volunteers in-country.

* Let's authorize active recruitment from the 185,000 returned Peace Corps volunteers for second tours and as third-goal educators here in the United States.

* We need to remove certain medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older men and women from becoming volunteers.

* We need more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process.

* And finally, let's provide a more comprehensive and user-friendly health safety net for recently-returned volunteers.

I'm glad to let you in on these plans in advance, because our respect for the Peace Corps makes a common bond. That's why I want to ask all of you here today for help these ideas become law as soon a possible-along with other ideas that make sense-so we can celebrate them when we gather here again for our fiftieth anniversary.

Obviously these ideas mean I've come here in part to criticize the Peace Corps, because each arose out of volunteers' specific criticism, and because every suggestion implies its fault-everything we ought to be doing is something we're failing to do now. And it occurred to me that it might not be very polite to find fault with the Peace Corps when we've come here to praise it.



Peace Corps Online

Caption: Senators Chris Dodd and Norm Coleman speak to Ron Tschetter after the Senate hearings for Tschetter's nomination to be Director of the Peace Corps.

But in the Peace Corps, I decided, criticism and praise are much the same thing. As a matter of fact, the Peace Corps is one sustained exercise in self-criticism, and that's just its strength. For our young men and women, living and serving among poverty is an implicit censure of their relative wealth. Learning to serve and work with our hands is a self-criticism, because it confronts us with our weaknesses. And more: Sargent Shriver has said, in a phrase that ought to be embroidered here on our tablecloths, "Peace Corps Volunteers come home to the USA realizing that there are billions-yes, billions-of human beings not enraptured by our pretensions, or our practices, or even our standards of conduct." So I realized that criticism is exactly what the Peace Corps wants, because its life is criticism. And we can't honor it any better than taking the rigors it applied to each of us in our turn, and turning them back on the source.

I will continue to do so, and you shouldn't expect any less. But for all that, there is so much more to say in praise for the role of the Peace Corps in our life and the life of the world these last 45 years. In the end, the best thing I can say is nothing. The Peace Corps has done its work for four-and-a-half decades in fields and villages around the world; but it's also done its work in our selves, and some of that will always be inexpressible. Where we can't express, we can at least remember-and I could do much worse than to leave you, not with any memory of mine, but with your own.

And when we've done our best to remember, let's raise our glasses to John Kennedy's plan in San Francisco and his inspiration in Ann Arbor, our Peace Corps, 45 years old and still new.

Thank you.




Senator Dodd's "Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act" proposed the creation of independent funding for third goal activities

Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act proposed the creation of independent funding for third goal activities

To carry out the purpose of this section, and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service shall award grants on a competitive basis to private nonprofit corporations for the purpose of enabling returned Peace Corps volunteers to use their knowledge and expertise to develop and carry out the programs and projects described in subsection (a). (a) PURPOSE- The purpose of this section is to provide support for returned Peace Corps volunteers to develop and carry out programs and projects to promote the third purpose of the Peace Corps Act, as set forth in section 2(a) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 2501(a)), by promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people.

PCOL Comments: There are two primary differences between the mechanism for supporting third goal activities in Senator Dodd's "Peace Corps for the 21st Century Bill" that passed the Senate on October 16, 2002 with the support of the NPCA and the "Peace Corps Foundation" proposed by Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter in 2008: the source of funding and administration of the funds. Under Senator Dodd's bill, funding of $10 M per year to support third goal activities would be provided by the US government and would be administered by the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Under the "Peace Corps Foundation" proposed by Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter, all funding would be raised by RPCVs themselves at no cost to the US government and the foundation would be administered by RPCVs themselves.


Senator Dodd's "Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act" proposed the creation of independent funding for third goal activities

Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by Senate)

S 2667 ES

107th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 2667

AN ACT

To amend the Peace Corps Act to promote global acceptance of the principles of international peace and nonviolent coexistence among peoples of diverse cultures and systems of government, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) The Peace Corps was established in 1961 to promote world peace and friendship through the service of American volunteers abroad.

(2) The three goals codified in the Peace Corps Act which have guided the Peace Corps and its volunteers over the years, can work in concert to promote global acceptance of the principles of international peace and nonviolent coexistence among peoples of diverse cultures and systems of government.

(3) The Peace Corps has operated in 135 countries with 165,000 Peace Corps volunteers since its establishment.

(4) The Peace Corps has sought to fulfill three goals, as follows: to help people in developing nations meet basic needs, to promote understanding of America's values and ideals abroad, and to promote an understanding of other peoples by Americans.

(5) After more than 40 years of operation, the Peace Corps remains the world's premier international service organization dedicated to promoting grassroots development.

(6) The Peace Corps remains committed to sending well trained and well supported Peace Corps volunteers overseas to promote peace, friendship, and international understanding.

(7) The Peace Corps is an independent agency, and therefore no Peace Corps personnel or volunteers should be used to accomplish any other goal than the goals established by the Peace Corps Act.

(8) The Crisis Corps has been an effective tool in harnessing the skills and talents for returned Peace Corps volunteers and should be expanded to utilize to the maximum extent the talent pool of returned Peace Corps volunteers.

(9) The Peace Corps is currently operating with an annual budget of $275,000,000 in 70 countries with 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers.

(10) There is deep misunderstanding and misinformation about American values and ideals in many parts of the world, particularly those with substantial Muslim populations, and a greater Peace Corps presence in such places could foster greater understanding and tolerance.

(11) Congress has declared that the Peace Corps should be expanded to sponsor a minimum of 10,000 Peace Corps volunteers.

(12) President George W. Bush has called for the doubling of the number of Peace Corps volunteers in service.

(13) Any expansion of the Peace Corps shall not jeopardize the quality of the Peace Corps volunteer experience, and therefore can only be accomplished by an appropriate increase in field and headquarters support staff.

(14) In order to ensure that proposed expansion of the Peace Corps preserves the integrity of the program and the security of volunteers, the integrated Planning and Budget System supported by the Office of Planning and Policy Analysis should continue its focus on strategic planning.

(15) A streamlined, bipartisan National Peace Corps Advisory Council composed of distinguished returned Peace Corps volunteers and other individuals, with diverse backgrounds and expertise, can be a source of ideas and suggestions that may be useful to the Director of the Peace Corps as he discharges his duties and responsibilities as head of the agency.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES- The term `appropriate congressional committees' means the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives.

(2) DIRECTOR- The term `Director' means the Director of the Peace Corps.

(3) PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER- The term `Peace Corps volunteer' means a volunteer or a volunteer leader under the Peace Corps Act.

(4) RETURNED PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER- The term `returned Peace Corps volunteer' means a person who has been certified by the Director as having served satisfactorily as a Peace Corps volunteer.

SEC. 4. RESTATEMENT OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE PEACE CORPS.

(a) IN GENERAL- Section 2A of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2501-1) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: `As an independent agency, all recruiting of volunteers shall be undertaken primarily by the Peace Corps.'.

(b) DETAILS AND ASSIGNMENTS- Section 5(g) of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2504(g)) is amended by inserting after `Provided, That' the following: `such detail or assignment does not contradict the standing of Peace Corps volunteers as being independent: Provided further, That'.

SEC. 5. REPORTS AND CONSULTATIONS.

(a) ANNUAL REPORTS; CONSULTATIONS ON NEW INITIATIVES- Section 11 of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2510) is amended by striking the section heading and the text of section 11 and inserting the following:

`SEC. 11. ANNUAL REPORTS; CONSULTATIONS ON NEW INITIATIVES.

`(a) ANNUAL REPORTS- The Director shall transmit to Congress, at least once in each fiscal year, a report on operations under this Act. Each report shall contain information--

`(1) describing efforts undertaken to improve coordination of activities of the Peace Corps with activities of international voluntary service organizations, such as the United Nations volunteer program, and of host country voluntary service organizations, including--

`(A) a description of the purpose and scope of any development project which the Peace Corps undertook during the preceding fiscal year as a joint venture with any such international or host country voluntary service organizations; and

`(B) recommendations for improving coordination of development projects between the Peace Corps and any such international or host country voluntary service organizations;

`(2) describing--

`(A) any major new initiatives that the Peace Corps has under review for the upcoming fiscal year, and any major initiatives that were undertaken in the previous fiscal year that were not included in prior reports to the Congress;

`(B) the rationale for undertaking such new initiatives;

`(C) an estimate of the cost of such initiatives; and

`(D) the impact on the safety of volunteers;

`(3) describing in detail the Peace Corp's plans for doubling the number of volunteers from 2002 levels, including a five-year budget plan for reaching that goal; and

`(4) describing standard security procedures for any country in which the Peace Corps operates programs or is considering doing so, as well as any special security procedures contemplated because of changed circumstances in specific countries, and assessing whether security conditions would be enhanced--

`(A) by colocating volunteers with international or local nongovernmental organizations; or

`(B) with the placement of multiple volunteers in one location.

`(b) CONSULTATIONS ON NEW INITIATIVES- The Director of the Peace Corps should consult with the appropriate congressional committees with respect to any major new initiatives not previously discussed in the latest annual report submitted to Congress under subsection (a) or in budget presentations. Wherever possible, such consultations should take place prior to the initiation of such initiatives, but in any event as soon as practicable thereafter.'.

(b) ONE TIME REPORT ON STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAMS- Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report--

(1) describing the student loan forgiveness programs currently available to Peace Corps volunteers upon completion of their service; and

(2) comparing such programs with other Government-sponsored student loan forgiveness programs; and

(3) recommending any additional student loan forgiveness programs which could attract more applicants from more low and middle income applicants facing high student loan obligations.

SEC. 6. SPECIAL VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT FOR COUNTRIES WHOSE GOVERNMENTS ARE SEEKING TO FOSTER GREATER UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THEIR CITIZENS AND THE UNITED STATES.

(a) REPORT- Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees describing the initiatives that the Peace Corps intends to pursue with eligible countries where the presence of Peace Corps volunteers would facilitate a greater understanding that there exists a universe of commonly shared human values and aspirations. Such report shall include--

(1) a description of the recruitment strategies to be employed by the Peace Corps to recruit and train volunteers with the appropriate language skills and interest in serving in such countries; and

(2) a list of the countries that the Director has determined should be priorities for special recruitment and placement of Peace Corps volunteers.

(b) USE OF RETURNED PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Director is authorized and strongly urged to utilize the services of returned Peace Corps volunteers having language and cultural expertise, including those returned Peace Corps volunteers who may have served previously in countries with substantial Muslim populations, in order to open or reopen Peace Corps programs in such countries.

SEC. 7. GLOBAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES INITIATIVE.

(a) IN GENERAL- The Director, in cooperation with international public health experts such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, and local public health officials shall develop a program of training for all Peace Corps volunteers in the areas of education, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases in order to ensure that all Peace Corps volunteers make a contribution to the global campaign against such diseases.

(b) DEFINITIONS- In this section:

(1) AIDS- The term `AIDS' means the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

(2) HIV- The term `HIV' means the human immunodeficiency virus, the pathogen that causes AIDS.

(3) HIV/AIDS- The term `HIV/AIDS' means, with respect to an individual, an individual who is infected with HIV or living with AIDS.

(4) INFECTIOUS DISEASES- The term `infectious diseases' means HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

SEC. 8. PEACE CORPS ADVISORY COUNCIL.

Section 12 of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2511; relating to the Peace Corps National Advisory Council) is amended--

(1) by amending subsection (b)(2)(D) to read as follows:

`(D) make recommendations for utilizing the expertise of returned Peace Corps volunteers in fulfilling the goals of the Peace Corps.';

(2) in subsection (c)--

(A) in paragraph (2)(A)--

(i) in the first sentence, by striking `fifteen' and inserting `seven'; and

(ii) by striking the second sentence and inserting the following: `Four of the members shall be former Peace Corps volunteers, at least one of whom shall have been a former staff member abroad or in the Washington headquarters, and not more than four shall be members of the same political party.';

(B) by amending subparagraph (D) to read as follows:

`(D) The members of the Council shall be appointed to 2-year terms.';

(C) by striking subparagraphs (B) and (H); and

(D) by redesignating subparagraphs (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), and (I) as subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), and (G), respectively;

(3) by amending subsection (g) to read as follows:

`(g) CHAIR- The President shall designate one of the voting members of the Council as Chair, who shall serve in that capacity for a period not to exceed two years.';

(4) by amending subsection (h) to read as follows:

`(h) MEETINGS- The Council shall hold a regular meeting during each calendar quarter at a date and time to be determined by the Chair of the Council.'; and

(5) by amending subsection (i) to read as follows:

`(i) REPORT- Not later than July 30, 2003, and annually thereafter, the Council shall submit a report to the President and the Director of the Peace Corps describing how the Council has carried out its functions under subsection (b)(2).'.

SEC. 9. READJUSTMENT ALLOWANCES.

The Peace Corps Act is amended--

(1) in section 5(c) (22 U.S.C. 2504(c)), by striking `$125' and inserting `$275'; and

(2) in section 6(1) (22 U.S.C. 2505(1)), by striking `$125' and inserting `$275'.

SEC. 10. PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS OF RETURNED PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS TO PROMOTE THE GOALS OF THE PEACE CORPS.

(a) PURPOSE- The purpose of this section is to provide support for returned Peace Corps volunteers to develop and carry out programs and projects to promote the third purpose of the Peace Corps Act, as set forth in section 2(a) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 2501(a)), by promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people.

(b) GRANTS TO CERTAIN NONPROFIT CORPORATIONS-

(1) GRANT AUTHORITY- To carry out the purpose of this section, and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service (referred to in this section as the `Corporation') shall award grants on a competitive basis to private nonprofit corporations for the purpose of enabling returned Peace Corps volunteers to use their knowledge and expertise to develop and carry out the programs and projects described in subsection (a).

(2) PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS- Such programs and projects may include--

(A) educational programs designed to enrich the knowledge and interest of elementary school and secondary school students in the geography and cultures of other countries where the volunteers have served;

(B) projects that involve partnerships with local libraries to enhance community knowledge about other peoples and countries; and

(C) audio-visual projects that utilize materials collected by the volunteers during their service that would be of educational value to communities.

(3) ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS- To be eligible to compete for grants under this section, a nonprofit corporation shall have a board of directors composed of returned Peace Corps volunteers with a background in community service, education, or health. The nonprofit corporation shall meet all appropriate Corporation management requirements, as determined by the Corporation.

(c) GRANT REQUIREMENTS- Such grants shall be made pursuant to a grant agreement between the Corporation and the nonprofit corporation that requires that--

(1) the grant funds will only be used to support programs and projects described in subsection (a) pursuant to proposals submitted by returned Peace Corps volunteers (either individually or cooperatively with other returned volunteers);

(2) the nonprofit corporation will give consideration to funding individual programs or projects by returned Peace Corps volunteers, in amounts of not more than $100,000, under this section;

(3) not more than 20 percent of the grant funds made available to the nonprofit corporation will be used for the salaries, overhead, or other administrative expenses of the nonprofit corporation;

(4) the nonprofit corporation will not receive grant funds for programs or projects under this section for a third or subsequent year unless the nonprofit corporation makes available, to carry out the programs or projects during that year, non-Federal contributions--

(A) in an amount not less than $2 for every $3 of Federal funds provided through the grant; and

(B) provided directly or through donations from private entities, in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equipment, or services; and

(5) the nonprofit corporation shall manage, monitor, and submit reports to the Corporation on each program or project for which the nonprofit corporation receives a grant under this section.

(d) STATUS OF THE FUND- Nothing in this section shall be construed to make any nonprofit corporation supported under this section an agency or establishment of the Federal Government or to make the members of the board of directors or any officer or employee of such nonprofit corporation an officer or employee of the United States.

(e) FACTORS IN AWARDING GRANTS- In determining the number of nonprofit corporations to receive grants under this section for any fiscal year, the Corporation--

(1) shall take into consideration the need to minimize overhead costs that direct resources from the funding of programs and projects; and

(2) shall seek to ensure a broad geographical distribution of grants for programs and projects under this section.

(f) CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT- Grant recipients under this section shall be subject to the appropriate oversight procedures of Congress.

(g) FUNDING-

(1) IN GENERAL- There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000. Such sum shall be in addition to funds made available to the Corporation under Federal law other than this section.

(2) AVAILABILITY- Amounts appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) are authorized to remain available until expended.

SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

Section 3(b)(1) of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2502(b)(1)) is amended--

(1) by striking `2002, and' and inserting `2002,'; and

(2) by inserting before the period the following: `, $465,000,000 for fiscal year 2004, $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, $560,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, and $560,000,000 for fiscal year 2007'.

Passed the Senate October 16, 2002.

Attest:

Secretary.

107th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 2667

AN ACT

To amend the Peace Corps Act to promote global acceptance of the principles of international peace and nonviolent coexistence among peoples of diverse cultures and systems of government, and for other purposes.

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Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: September, 2010; RPCV Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic); Figures; RPCV Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic); Peace Corps Dominican Republic; Directory of Dominican Republic RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Dominican Republic RPCVs; Politics; Congress; Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams; Peace Corps Headquarters; Connecticut





When this story was posted in November 2010, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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Big Omission in Comprehensive Report Date: July 27 2010 No: 1451 Big Omission in Comprehensive Report
The Peace Corps has always neglected the third goal, allocating less than 1% of their resources to it, so when Aaron Williams promised Senator Dodd to provide a "Comprehensive Assessment Report" with ideas to strengthen and reform the agency's operations we expected to see some forceful recommendations to address this critical weakness. Read the report and our commentary on the big omission in the third goal that committee members didn't address, discuss, or even mention.

July 20, 2010: Nita Lowey Pushes Expansion Date: July 24 2010 No: 1447 July 20, 2010: Nita Lowey Pushes Expansion
Nita Lowey pushes $46.15 million PC funding increase 1 Jul
Anne Goddard helps lead ChildFund 12 Jul
PCVs Safe after bombing in Uganda 12 Jul
PCVs Evacuated from Northern Burkina Faso 7 Jul
Ben Masters promotes bamboo bicycles 6 Jul
Danny Dunbar is a fan of Brazil soccer 2 Jul
Christopher Hill leaves Iraq Embassy For Academia 2 Jul
NPCA holds YouTube contest 2 Jul
Larry Palmer nominated as Ambassador to Venezuela 30 Jun
Laurence Leamer writes: America Looks Like a Fortress 29 Jun
Ed Reed writes: Troops' service in Korea not in vain 28 Jun
Mary-Denise Tabar finishes tour in Iraq 24 Jun
Carrie Hessler-Radelet Sworn in as PC Deputy Director 24 Jun
PC Releases Comprehensive Agency Assessment Report 22 Jun
Michael Burden writes: The dilemma on your dinner plate 18 Jun
Safety at risk for Peace Corps volunteers? 17 Jun
PCVs in Southern Kyrgyzstan evacuated safely 15 Jun
Steve Harpt helps dropouts reconstruct their lives 11 Jun
Biden Meets with Peace Corps/Kenya Volunteers 11 Jun
19 Americans Sworn-in as PCVs in Indonesia 4 Jun
PC Celebrates Volunteers Return to Sierra Leone 3 Jun
John Coté makes cross-country walk for US Troops 16 May

May 12, 2010: PC Returns to Colombia Date: May 12 2010 No: 1434 May 12, 2010: PC Returns to Colombia
Colombia Program restarts after 30 Year Absence 11 May
Karen Smith works in Afghanistan and Sudan 24 Apr
Kevin Bubriski began photographing Nepal in 1975 24 Apr
Mark Lenzi writes: Can Poland get past the 'curse'? 14 Apr
Aaron Williams visits Jordan 13 Apr
Committee passes Dodd's Peace Corps Bill 13 Apr
NPCA's Africa Rural Connect wins Award 13 Apr
Brian Kuhn among Scientists on Ancestor Find 12 Apr
Melanie Edwards gathers data on "invisible poor" 12 Apr
Johnnie Carson writes: Africa Policy Under Obama 7 Apr
Be Part Of New Film About The Peace Corps 30 Mar
Chief of Staff encourages PCVs to serve third year 29 Mar
Williams Testifies on Vision for Future of Peace Corps 18 Mar
Heath Lowry teaches Turkish Studies at Princeton 14 Mar
Torkin Wakefield created "Bead for Life" in Uganda 14 Mar
Parents of Murdered PCV Speak Out 12 Mar
Village in Kenya Erects Monument to Megan DaPisa 10 Mar
Frank Swoboda at World Food Prize HQ 10 Mar
Ashley Bates reports from Gaza 4 Mar
Joe Zenisek started Share the Love 10 years ago 28 Feb
Peter Hessler publishes "Country Driving" 25 Feb
Stacia and Kristof Nordin call Malawi home 22 Feb

Memo to Incoming Director Williams Date: August 24 2009 No: 1419 Memo to Incoming Director Williams
PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams

Join Us Mr. President! Date: June 26 2009 No: 1380 Join Us Mr. President!
"We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011. And we'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity," said Barack Obama during his campaign. Returned Volunteers rally and and march to the White House to support a bold new Peace Corps for a new age. Latest: Senator Dodd introduces Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act of 2009 .



Read the stories and leave your comments.








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Story Source: Peace Corps Press Release

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; Dodd; COS - Dominican Republic; Politics; Congress; Williams; HQ

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