January 30, 2002 - PCOL: US Freedom Corps to act as inter-agency council; US Peace Corps to remain as independent agency
Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Special Reports: December 3, 2004: Promises not funded are promises not kept: January 29, 2002 - CNN: Bush calls for doubling the size of the Peace Corps : January 30, 2002 - PCOL: US Freedom Corps to act as inter-agency council; US Peace Corps to remain as independent agency
By Admin1 (admin) on Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - 11:46 am: Edit Post

US Freedom Corps to act as inter-agency council; US Peace Corps to remain as independent agency




Read and comment on our story about the US Freedom Corps:

US Freedom Corps to act as inter-agency council; US Peace Corps to remain as independent agency

Conversations today with government officials about the new US Freedom Corps have led us to understand that the US Freedom Corps is not going to be modeled after the ACTION Corps of the 1970's.

The US Freedom Corps will act similar to an inter-agency council to coordinate activities of the agencies that will be a part of it.

The US Peace Corps will continue as an independent agency.


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By Alyssa Nelson on Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - 5:19 pm: Edit Post

I was pleased to hear President Bush finally speak with apparent sincerity about peace efforts and volunteerism in the State of the Union address last night. As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, I know that increasing the number of Peace Corps Volunteers is an excellent start.

I hope he is aware, however, that Peace Corps Volunteers struggle continuously with accusations that they are CIA agents, Christian missionaries, or American imperialists. Bush should be more careful with his language, lest he send the wrong message to other countries or to potential Volunteers.

I am glad, therefore, that the Peace Corps is to remain an independent agency, not a division of the proposed Freedom Corps.

Finally, I felt that the part of his speech about volunteerism stood in stark, hypocritical contrast to the first half in which he laid out his plan for America "winning the War." In peace, everyone wins.

Sincerely,

Alyssa Nelson
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Mali 96-97

P.S. Incidentally, the name "Freedom Corps" irks me because it conjures up images of McCarthy. Why not just use "Citizen Corps"?

It's like the bad choice of "Operation Infinite Justice." He sounds like a video game creator.

By Colin Gallagher (colin_gallagher) on Saturday, February 02, 2002 - 7:08 pm: Edit Post

Relationships with our government should be based on trust. Considering the record, however, can we trust our current government to make the appropriate distinction between interagency coordination and interagency control?

Furthermore, if in fact the proposed Freedom Corps does act to provide interagency coordination in fact, who are the officials who will be doing the "coordinating?"

While PCOL does not exist to criticize the administration's every action, it is inappropriate and naive to shirk the responsibility of watchdog on the issue of the U.S. Freedom Corps. We must do more than just hope that this new organization does not become an oxymoron, such as the Central Intelligence Agency.

Most Sincerely,

Mr. Colin G. Gallagher, RPCV (El Salvador)

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