450 MILLION!

the morepeacecorps campaign has made an impact!

Showing incredible political courage, Representative Howard Berman in today's hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee tossed out the administration's $373 million figure for the Peace Corps in FY 2010 and replaced it with $450 million. This is a gigantic step for the Peace Corps, but our legions of returned volunteers must now see to it that the money is appropriated and voted upon and that a new generation of leadership arrives at the Peace Corps ready and able to create a visionary organization that is an integral part of the American presence in the world.

Everyone should pick up the phone between 9 AM to 5 PM and call the White House at 202-456-1111 and tell the operator that we support a bold, new Peace Corps for the new century.

Here is the article that tells it all:

The Birth of the Bold New Peace Corps

by Laurence Leamer. Published in the Huffington Post.

The bold new Peace Corps was born today in room 2172 in the Rayburn House Office Building. It took place as members of the House of Representatives were marking up the Foreign Affairs Authorization Bill authored by Committee Chairman Rep. Howard Berman. For almost every item, the California Democrat kept to the figures in President Obama's budget, but when it came to the budget for the Peace Corps he tossed out the administration's fiscal year 2010 figure of $373 million and made it $450 million. In terms of the overall budget this was chump change, but if the bill passes Congress, the Peace Corps will be able to begin the extensive reform that it needs and to move toward a doubling of the 7,000 volunteers.

Rep. Berman is a loyal Democrat and a team player of the first order. It took courage for him to support this enlarged figure, seemingly opposing the administration's number. In fact, Berman stood up for President Obama's highest ideals and values. Berman supported the movement that elected Obama. Berman saved Obama's own vision.

Obama is the one who in his campaign promised to double the size of the Peace Corps by its fiftieth anniversary in 2011. Obama is the one with a profound understanding of service as an essential feature of the American spirit. Obama is the one who has gone ahead to include in his budget tripling the size of the domestic volunteers to a massive 275,000.

What is increasingly apparent is that at its top levels, the Obama administration does not realize that it has reneged on the President's fervent campaign pledge. I know how unlikely that sounds, but it is the truth, and Berman has done the President an immense service.

If the Peace Corps is able to reinvent itself for the 21st century, Berman will deserve a place not simply in the history of the organization but in a new American presence in the world. He does not stand alone. The politician was accepting figures in a bill written by Rep. Sam Farr, cosigned by 120 of his colleagues.

Obama has a plate piled to overfilling with an endless heaping of intransigent problems, and it is understandable why he has not paid attention to the Peace Corps. But the time has come in the next few weeks when he can ensure this bold new Peace Corps will be a reality.

Obama has a blueprint of what must be done sitting on his desk: the twenty-page transition document written by his own team. The impressive piece of work manages to be both positive about the Peace Corps and its role in the world, and yet honing in on the problems of the organization and suggesting how they can be fixed so that the volunteer base can be broadly expanded.

This bold new Peace Corps needs a bold new leader with the initiative, energy and decisiveness to turn the organization from a child of the Sixties until a vibrant creature of the 21st century. That's the immediate task the Obama administration has before it, choosing a new director and an equally impressive deputy director. With the added budget, they and their associates will have one of the greatest opportunities in government.

Rep. Berman has written a new beginning for the creation of a bold new Peace Corps. It's up to the rest of us now who care about the Peace Corps to work to see that it becomes a reality. The first thing we should all do is to call the White House at 202 456-1111 and tell the operator that we support a bold, new Peace Corps for the new century.

A Small Victory

I never thought a response from a House Representative could make me so happy. After numerous attempts to contact Rep. Cliff Stearns about the HR1066 Peace Corps Expansion act I finally got a response!

Dear Mr. Maresco:
Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the Peace Corps Expansion Act (H.R. 1066). I always appreciate hearing from constituents, and greatly benefit from knowing your views. I work every day to best represent the people of Florida's sixth congressional district and it is helpful to know the concerns that are most important to you. As you may be aware, H.R. 1066 was introduced on February 13, 2009 by Representative Sam Farr (D-CA). This legislation proposes to amend the Peace Corps Act to authorize new appropriations for the Peace Corps and to increase readjustment allowances for Peace Corps volunteers. H.R. 1066 has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs where it awaits further action. While I do not serve on this committee, you can be assured that I will bear your thoughts in mind should this legislation be presented to the full House for a vote. Again, thank you for contacting me. If I can be of any further assistance on this or another federal matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. For your convenience, you may receive further information from me on issues important to the 6th District at www.house.gov/stearns. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.
With kind regards, I am Sincerely, Cliff Stearns United States Representative

This may not seem like much but it really is. I have contacted a dozen representatives and usually just get the automated response that they are really busy and cant respond. Coming from Cliff Stearns, who has a subpar voting record when it comes to funding service initiatives, this really is big. I urge all of you to email your representatives and Cliff Stearns down in FL, to get them to sign on the bill. Anyway that is my rant for now, time to get back to this UF PC logo design.

Earth Day!

Today has been a good day. Tomorrow is the "Tea Party" at Tim and Terrys in Gainesville so if your a RPCV, PCV, applicant, or just someone interested in Peace Corps come hang out! I also want to share a bit of encouraging new from the morepeacecorps campaign that I recieved in an email:


Dear Peace Corps Friends and Colleagues,

The White House is beginning to hear our voices!

Today, we received the attached letter from the White House Director of Presidential Correspondence who hand picks the letters which reach the president's eyes. Heartened by this epistle, I am urging 100 personalized, hand-written letters by Friday, April 24 to President Obama urging robust funding to Peace Corps in 2010.

You may have seen this article in today's NY Times about Mr. Kelleher who selects 10 letters from tens of thousands to bring to the President's attention. As luck would have it, Mr. Kelleher is an RPCV that served in Sierra Leone in the 1980's.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.nytimes.com%2F2009%2F04%2F20%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2F20letters.html%3F_r%3D2%26scp%3D1%26sq%3DMike%2520Kelleher%26st%3Dcse

Said Mr. Kelleher, Obama's "mailman," in the NY Times article today, “We pick messages that are compelling, things people say that, when you read it, you get a chill,” said Mr. Kelleher, 47. “I send him letters that are uncomfortable messages.”

This time I'm urging you to take action in a different way - no form letter. Please hand-write your letter and tell your story (and if you can, please scan and send me a copy at rajeev@morepeacecorps.org or simply let me know that you took action). Tell the story of who you are and what the Peace Corps did for your life. Who did you meet in your village or town and how did that person influence your life? Be personal. The only thing we ask is that you include the request for $450 million to Peace Corps in the President's FY 2010 budget. If you can mention the 15,000 and growing supporters of the MorePeaceCorps campaign, that would also help.

Mr. Kelleher is yet another example of the profound legacy of Peace Corps volunteers. Lets get the attention of this natural ally. If you can send me a copy, it would help. My address is: rajeev goyal, morepeacecorps c/o M+R Strategic Services, 80 Broad Street, Suite 1700, New York NY 10004

I want to thank RPCVs Judy Figi, Collier Perry, Elisabeth Therrien, Mary-Anne Tirone Smith, Anna Whitcomb, Paul Thompson, Dan Kane, Jocelyn Sese, Linda Piso, and Joel Neuberg for volunteering in various states and districts! I also wish to thank Jill and Bernard Jacquot who wrote me from Paris and Colin O'Hara who is serving in Macedonia and conducting outreach to Jim Langevin's office. You are inspirational.

Here is the address for our President:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Best Wishes,
Rajeev

Thanks everyone for your support on this, we really need to work together to champion this cause. Would also like to thank Amy again for the final PC globe talk of the semester on Eastern Europe that she had last week. Anyway its earth day so I think I am going put in a phish cd and plant a tree in a pair of hemp sandals... joking about the phish part =)