Monthly Archives: April 2009

04.21.09
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More Peace Corps Legislation Could Enable More to Serve Abroad

As the Serve America Act becomes law, it offers no support of Peace Corps. Legislation to increase the capacity of Peace Corps was introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year.

A fish farming family

A fish farming family

In mid-February, Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) introduced H.R. 1066, the Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009. The legislation calls for gradually increased funding for Peace Corps (up to $750 million in 2012), enabling more Volunteers to serve, and increasing the amount of the readjustment allowance Volunteers receive at the end of their service term.

13,011 Americans applied in 2008 to volunteer their service in the Peace Corps, a 16 percent increase over the 11,246 applications received in 2007. While applications to Peace Corps and other service corps are seeing record numbers, Peace Corps has funding for 400 fewer Volunteers this year (compared with 2008), and is reportedly offering one-year deferrals to candidates.

(In 1966, according to the Boston Globe, 15,000 Peace Corps Volunteers served in the field.)

According to the Boston Globe article about Peace Corps from this past weekend, former Peace Corps Country Director Mark Gearan said, “We spend more on the military marching bands. …This is 1 percent of 1 percent [of the federal budget]. There’s Continue reading →

04.21.09
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Maria Eitel Nominated to Serve as the New CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service

Maria Eitel

Update:May 22: Maria Eitel withdrew her name citing health reasons.

President Obama has announced his intention to nominate Maria Eitel to serve as the Corporation’s new CEO.

The Corporation for National and Community Service is the federal agency that has overseen AmeriCorps and other national service programs since their launch in 1993. Eitel will fill the position vacated last fall by out-going CEO David Eisner and filled currently by Acting CEO Nicola Goren.

Eitel is the founding President of the Nike Foundation where she has worked “to unleash the girl effect, the powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have opportunity.” She has led efforts “to put girls on the global agenda and drive resources to them with the goal of eradicating global poverty.”

In a White House statement, President Obama said:

“I am pleased to announce my intent to nominate Maria Eitel to be CEO for the Corporation for National and Community Service.   Maria brings a unique blend of skills and management experience that will help her successfully lead the Corporation during our Administration’s bold expansion of national service programs.  Maria is genuinely passionate about the role of national and community service as a vehicle for engaging and mobilizing citizens in social change, and will bring new, creative thinking to the growth and mission of the Corporation.”

Previously she had served as Nike Inc.’s first vice president for corporate responsibility, as the European corporate affairs group manager for Microsoft Corporation and at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and MCI Communications Corp. She’s also served in the White House doing media affairs work. She holds degrees fromMcGill University (BS), Georgetown University (MSFS), and Stanford University (SEP).

Eitel has served on boards for the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on HIV/AIDS, Millennium Promise, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Lakeside School in Seattle, Wash, Young Presidents Organization International and the Acumen Fund.

Read the press release from the Corporation for National and Community Service.

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04.21.09
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The Signing of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

SAA signingToday President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law. It will take affect October 1 of this year. Read more about the Act.

During one of the most exciting National Volunteer Weeks in recent memory, President Obama and national service supporters gathered today at the SEED School in Washington, D.C., an academic and boarding charter school.

At the signing, Obama said, our “government cannot do everything alone,” but needs the help of citizens in local communities everywhere. And national service isn’t just for recent college graduates (watch news footage from AARP.) Sounding Whitman-esque, he called people every where to “Put your shoulder to the wheel” of service — and if you do, you can look back on the “moment when your own story and the American story converged.”

Michelle Obama and Bill ClintonHe also recognized Bill Clinton for launching AmeriCorps during his administration, and the First Lady Michelle Obama who was the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago, a national service program.

Obama went on to talk about the long legacy of service contributed by the Kennedy family including Ted Kennedy, for whom the legislation is now named.

He also introduced Maria Eitel his nominee for the new chief executive post at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and Acting C.E.O. Nicola Goren.

The bill re-authorizes CNCS and its programs through 2014, and authorizes sweeping expansion of national service (with a nod Continue reading →

04.20.09
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Asia Society Hosts a Discussion about China RPCV’s Book

The Last Days of Old BeijingMichael Meyer, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in China (1995-97), will appear at the Asia Society in New York City on May 7th.

Meyer will be discussing his recent book The Last Days of Old Beijing with Orville Schell, the director of the Center on US-China Relations, at an Asia Society event — Conversation with Author Michael Meyer.

A longtime Beijing resident, Michael Meyer has been sharing a courtyard home for several years in Beijing’s oldest hutongs, Dazhalan. The book chronicles the people in his neighborhood, the forced evictions there resulting from urban overhaul and commercialization, and the destruction of its way of life.

You can also read a recent essay of Meyer’s in the New York Times (free login required).

The Peace Corps China program started in 1993. Listen to a podcast featuring current Peace Corps China country director Bonnie Thie. The program has produced a bevy of other writers like Peter Hessler and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jake Hooker.

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04.17.09
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Seeking Opportunities to Be the Minority, to Connect, and to Serve

halitll - flickr creative commonsA community of service-minded people gather to celebrate the Passover Seder.

Last week I attended a Passover Seder at a friend’s house. Nineteen of us gathered together at not one, but two, tables and took turns reading passages and singing songs from the Haggadah, then devouring the many dishes before us with extra helpings of gefilte fish and matzah crackers topped with horseradish for me. Yummers!

Before we sat down for dinner, the evening began as large evening gatherings usually do—with the requisite mixing and mingling—“What’s your name?” “How do you know the host?” “What do you do?”

As much as I wanted to, I wasn’t able to talk to each and every guest. But that wasn’t a grave issue because I’d already met a few of them at the Hanukkah celebration last year.

During dinner, the man sitting to my right asked me, “Are you familiar with Youth Service America? I used to work for them.” Continue reading →