Last week, the House of Representatives’ State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee approved a $46.15 million funding increase for the Peace Corps in 2011. In this time of fiscal austerity, it was a big win. Read about it here.

Now, the key vote will be in the Senate.

Within the next 2 weeks, the 15 Members of the Senate State and Foreign Operations subcommittee, led by Chairman Patrick Leahy (VT) and Ranking Member Judd Gregg (NH), will likely decide whether or not to support the $46 million increase, which has been endorsed by over 30 Senators thanks to the efforts of Senators Chris Dodd (CT) and Bob Corker (TN).

If you are a constituent of one of the 15 subcommittee members, please contact your Senator now (sample text below, please personalize). You can also help by forwarding this newsletter on to friends and family urging them to take action. Key phone numbers and website links are listed below.

One very positive factor is that the $46.15 million increase (already passed by the House subcommittee) is supported by the Administration, and the Senate subcommittee supported the President’s request last year. But this is no guarantee that it will do so again.

If you are a constituent of one of the 15 Subcommittee Members, call now and say (please personalize and adapt this text):

I am calling from ____ to encourage Senator ____ to support $46.15 million in additional funding for the Peace Corps in 2011. This is the amount requested by the administration’s budget to strengthen and expand the agency. Since 1961, Peace Corps volunteers have served the needs of people in developing countries while shaping how those people view America. Today, new countries are appealing for Peace Corps programs. Please take this momentous opportunity and support the $46.15 million increase recently approved by the House subcommittee. I appreciate your support.

Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng is a education specialist at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai’i.  She holds a masters degree in secondary education from New York University and a PhD in educational foundations from University of Hawai’i Manoa.  She has been a lifelong advocate of peace education. 

May 9, 2010

Aloha, 

As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, I would like to extend my support to the 200,000 former Peace Corps volunteers who are endeavoring to double participation and broadly expand the reach of the Peace Corps and its philosophy of meaningful collaboration, exchange, and service.  Congratulations on increasing the agency’s budget by $60 million last year.  I stand behind your push for another $65 million increase this year.  I want you to know that I strongly believe in the importance of what you are doing, and I encourage you to keep supporting this grassroots campaign to realize my brother’s call for 16,000 volunteers. 

Today, the need to connect and engage more deeply with people of the globalizing world has never been more vital.  Only by appreciating the long arc of history, by mastering languages such as Bahasa, Mandarin, and Arabic and by building true working partnerships between people of this country and leaders and grassroots stakeholders of communities across the world, can we build peaceful coexistence.  Peace Corps volunteers, who live alongside the people and work in their institutions, are building the linkages that connect our world.

Today, the Peace Corps is half the size it was in 1966, and yet demand has never been greater.  With an additional $300 million over the next two years, we can add 8,000 more volunteers around the world. The ministries of twenty new nations have requested new programs and many existing programs such as the one in Indonesia, a country close to my own heart, where just 22 volunteers will serve in a nation of 238 million people, merit expansion.

As the Peace Corps grows, to reflect the fact that America itself was built on waves of immigration, we must ensure that more people of color, more members of the Diaspora, and more Americans from low-income backgrounds have the opportunity to volunteer.  

In conclusion, I thank you for your bold efforts to support the current administration to create a bright new Peace Corps with 16,000 volunteers.   I am honored to be a part of this movement.   

Mahalo Nui Loa,

Maya Soetoro-Ng

The January 12th earthquake in Port-au-Prince affected over 3 million people across Haiti.  On the community level, there exists a vast need for capable outreach volunteers and social organizers working to re-build communities.  Recognizing that this kind of capacity building and extension of support at the local level is the perfect role for Peace Corps volunteers, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) is asking that at least $7.5 million be included in the Haiti Supplemental budget.  Contact your Senator before this week’s deadline (Thursday, April 22nd) to sign Senator Gillibrand’s appeal letter and to support the inclusion of funds in the supplemental.

New Yorker Staff Writer and Best-Selling Author Peter Hessler (China 96-98) says, ‘You Can’t Beat the Peace Corps’

For an investment in American foreign policy, you can’t beat the Peace Corps.  Volunteers give their host communities a positive impression of America, and they tend to stay connected after their service is finished.  This is especially true nowadays, when improved phone and Internet services make the post-Peace Corps relationship very different from what it was in the past.  Twelve years after finishing my service in China, I’m still in contact with over one hundred of my former students.  I hear from one of them almost every day on email.  They are teachers now, mostly in rural China, and their continued contact with an American informs their perspective.  There may be anti-America rhetoric in some parts of China, but you don’t hear it in those classrooms in Sichuan province.

Those of us who volunteered in China also continue to take an interest in the country, both personally and professionally.  The majority of the people I served with have become teachers in the United States, where they are able to give their students an unusually personal and accurate introduction to China.  Others work for NGOs, educational exchange programs, and the State Department.  A large number of Peace Corps volunteers have become successful journalists in China, working for the New York Times, the New Yorker, Newsweek, and Cox News Service.  During the past five years, former China volunteers have won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Magazine Award, the Whiting Writers’ Award, and two Overseas Press Club Prizes.  The Peace Corps China program was started in 1993, initially at a very small scale (ten to fifteen volunteers per year), and already four books have been published by former volunteers, another book is coming out shortly, and one more is under contract.  This means that since 1993, former Peace Corps China volunteers have produced more books than the China bureaus of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, and Newsweek combined.  When it comes to giving American readers an introduction to China, the Peace Corps has arguably been more successful than many of our most respected media institutions.

I was fortunate to attend Princeton and Oxford universities, but the most important part of my education was the two years I spent in the Peace Corps.  I learned to teach and communicate with people very different from myself, and I learned Chinese — but the most important lesson was one of perspective.  I saw the world differently, and that viewpoint has informed everything I’ve written since.  This is true of many former volunteers in many walks of life:  teachers, organizers, diplomats.  It’s a shame that in a country with such an active foreign policy, relatively little attention and support has been given to the Peace Corps.

Peter Hessler (China 1996-98).  Currently a staff writer at the New Yorker and a contributing writer at National Geographic Magazine.

Within the past few decades, the inhabited world has devolved into a complex and volatile place.  The planet’s population has more than doubled since 1960, when I was in the 4th grade, such that crowding and tension have become palpable, even during times of outward peace.  A strong defense coupled with a big stick is one way to respond to this future-is-now scenario, and advances in technology and mobility offer opportunities for improved defense and “safer warfare.”  But ultimately our best defense — and offense, in a sense — will be found mainly through trust, communication, and relationships.  This is the core strength of the Peace Corps.  Traveling in the most remote villages of the Himalaya, it is rare to encounter someone who hasn’t heard of the Peace Corps, and villagers and educated people alike share universally favorable images of it.  They’re aware of the United States, too, but are less certain of our nation’s larger motives and agenda.  Might the Peace Corps be America’s best foot (and hand and heart) forward?

Broughton Coburn (Nepal 73-75) stayed on in the Himalaya for more than 20 years, working with UNDP, WWF and other agencies, and is the author or editor of 7 books. www.unusualspeaker.com

See the Action Alert for Push for Peace Corps on servicenation.org

Peace Corps provides the best return on the dollar in America’s entire foreign policy budget. The program educates thousands of young Americans in each new generation about the reality of life as lived by most of the world’s population. It creates a permanent constituency of informed Americans who will go on to work in development, politics, journalism, diplomacy, and other fields, and will care about the underdeveloped world and carry an intimate knowledge of one corner of it for the rest of their lives. It builds long-term relationships between Americans and people around the world who ordinarily are forgotten when foreign policy is discussed. It leaves behind a generally warm and hopeful view of America and Americans in the minds of people around the world whose individual and collective lives can have a profound effect on the rest of us. In an age of chronic anti-Americanism, with the U.S. portrayed in cartoon-like fashion by much of the global media, the presence of a flesh-and-blood American for two years in a poor village or city slum is a badly needed corrective. Generously funding Peace Corps is a no-brainer for anyone who cares about poverty around the world and America’s standing in it.

George Packer (Togo 82-83) is a best-selling author whose essays and articles have appeared in The Nation, World Affairs, Harper’s, and The New York Times among other publications. He is a staff writer for The New Yorker. One of his books, The Village of Waiting, is about his Peace  Corps experience in Togo.

(Click here to see the list of who in the House of Representatives has signed the FY 11 Farr-Petri Peace Corps Funding Letter urging $465 million so far.  To download and read the letter, visit the Take Action page of PushforPeaceCorps.org.  We have only till March 15th to collect signatures.)

Thank you for responding to the call to action to increase the Peace Corps budget last year. There are Americans who want to serve and countries that are waiting for partnership. Your activism and advocacy gave more people the opportunity to serve in Peace Corps and more communities the benefit of their service. I’d like to take this opportunity to personally congratulate you on helping obtain the largest year-on-year funding increase in the history of Peace Corps. Thank you!

I commend PushforPeaceCorps.org, MorePeaceCorps.org, PeaceCorpsWorldwide.org, National Peace Corps Association and all of the individuals and groups that organized brilliantly and worked so hard to make it possible.

My understanding is that collectively, you orchestrated 20,000 phone calls and emails. Every Member of Congress heard from you. I also know the 2009 campaign produced 18,000 petition signatures and 10,000 phone calls to the White House, staged a rally in Freedom Plaza, and visited over 300 offices on Capitol Hill.

Perhaps most remarkably, in December you generated a burst of 5,000 phone calls to President Obama in just 3 days urging him to keep his campaign promise to double the size of Peace Corps and reinvigorate the agency. Well, I can tell you, Washington D.C. heard your call and your collective effort made a BIG difference.

What did you accomplish?

More than 90 Members of Congress co-signed a funding request letter to the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations. The letter asked for $450 million for Peace Corps in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. Every year I work on this letter. And 2009 was the high water mark for co-signers because of you.

And when an amendment was offered on the House floor to cut the Peace Corps increase, it was easily beaten back. We won the fight because the grassroots pressure that you applied showed that Peace Corps is supported in every Congressional district across America.

A major part of our winning strategy in 2009 was passing the Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009. This piece of legislation authorized Congress to appropriate $450 million for Peace Corps for FY 2010 and $600 million in FY 2011. All of your phone calls, emails and office visits convinced 132 Members, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike, to co-sponsor the bill. When Chairman Berman saw the strong bi-partisan support he decided to include the bill in his State Department reauthorization bill. And for the first time since 2002, a Peace Corps reauthorization bill was passed by the House of Representatives. By passing this bill we made a statement: Congress supports Peace Corps.

Ultimately, the final FY 2010 appropriation was $400 million — $60 million above the FY 2009 funding level and $26.6 million over the President’s ask — a historic result. As I noted earlier, it is the greatest one year dollar increase ever. And there’s more. Of the 49 annual appropriations Peace Corps has received since 1961, Congress has provided funding over the President’s request only 14 times. Prior to last year, the highest amount that Congress appropriated above the president’s request was in 1988 when it provided $16 million more than President Ronald Reagan requested.

So, how was history made?

It was because you were energized, active, informed and organized. Your engagement made history. But your contributions cannot be captured in statistics alone. You generated excitement that was contagious showing that petitioning government does work.

You demonstrated that Peace Corps remains close to the hearts of the American people. And you undoubtedly inspired thousands of RPCVs to reengage in support of an American government enterprise that has helped shape lives for nearly 50 years.

I have one request: Let’s do it again this year!

I urge you to keep up your efforts, make phone calls, send emails, and visit your elected officials. I’ll tell you first hand, they will listen. Together we can give new Peace Corps Director, Aaron Williams (DR 66-69), all the resources and support he needs to continue to provide Americans the opportunity to serve their country in peace.

One simple way you can help is by forwarding this message to other RPCVs and PC staff you may know from your work, from your community or who those who served with you when you were a volunteer. Also, don’t forget friends and family who experienced PC through you. Let’s get organized for a great 2010 campaign. You can either forward them this letter so they can get updated and take part in the exciting next phase of the campaign. And if you send it by email, please copy info@pushforpeacecorps.org.

You can count on me and the five other RPCVs serving in Congress to battle hard for Peace Corps. In addition to recruiting RPCVs across the nation to the campaign, this is what I need you to do:

1. Next week, the RPCV’s in Congress will circulate a “Dear Colleague” letter. The more Members of Congress who co-sign this letter, the more weight it will have in the eyes of the Appropriations Committee. I’ll need your help to call, email or meet with your Representative in Congress to sign on to it.
2. Once the Appropriations Bill is drafted and ready for a vote, you can then contact your Representatives to ask them to vote for the appropriations bill.

I will be in touch again in March during National Peace Corps week.

Peace Corps is more popular than ever. And countries around the world are seeking new Peace Corps missions. Even old countries like my beloved Colombia want us back in. We can only match supply of volunteers with the increased demand from countries around the world if we have enough money to make the match.

Keep pushing for Peace Corps!

Sam Farr (Colombia 64-66)
Member of Congress

We’ve started up with pretty limited resources. Please help us out and donate whatever you can via Paypal. We know we can succeed to get thousands more Americans serving in an expanded, improved Peace Corps. But we need good advocacy to make that happen, and that means we need to cover expenses for keeping the website going, emailing newsletters and updates, and building the team. Thanks for whatever you can contribute.

You made it happen — $400 million to fund Peace Corps in Fiscal Year 2010 — a $60 million increase, the largest single-year dollar increase in Peace Corps’ 49 year history.  Thank you and congratulations everyone.  Hope this news warms your Holiday Season and thank you for all you did.  This will go a long way to paving the path for an expanded, improved Peace Corps.

Please help spread the news all over the world by forwarding this message to every past and present Peace Corps volunteer you know copying rajeev@pushforpeacecorps.org.

There are now 149 Champions in Congress (scroll below), who with your encouragement, will continue to advocate for Peace Corps in 2011 and beyond.  And, we’ve not ceased our outreach.  A few weeks ago, Push for Peace Corps visited more than 30 House and Senate offices in a single week and most pledged support for a larger Peace Corps.  Now it’s time to be celebrate the historic victory, securing an appropriation $27 million higher than thePresident’s request and $60 million above the 2009 appropriation.  To put this increase in perspective, this $60 million increase is more than the Peace Corps attained in the last 7 years combined!

No rest for the weary.

The fiscal year 2011 budget is currently taking shape and will be finalized by President Obama in the February 2010.  The larger the President’s request, the smaller the distance to lift it above this year’s increase, a fitting target to seek for 2011, the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps.

We have some advantages this year.  Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams, who did not take office until the end of August, is off to a fast start, assembling a strong staff, adding three new countries to receive volunteers – Indonesia, Sierra Leone and Madagascar – and traveling in America and abroad with messages that the Peace Corps is on the move, growing larger, working in new ways and striving to become even more effective.

We’ll be in touch on what comes next, but for now we hope you appreciate and celebrate this achievement.  In the midst of the economic crisis, a grassroots outpouring of letters, calls, emails and face-to-face visits motivated and mobilized a cadre of courageous Representatives and Senators from both political parties who worked together effectively.

Please spread the good news and forward this message to peace corps volunteers, past and present, in your networks as well as other Peace Corps supporters (including friends and family of volunteers) and copy rajeev@pushforpeacecorps.org.  If you are a member of the media and can help generate a news story about this, please get in touch immediately.

Finally, if you can donate money to the campaign, we need a lot more resources to keep the campaign going strong in 2010.

Another way to help is to recruit more RPCVs to the campaign by refering them to pushforpeacecorps.org to sign up (it takes 1 minute).

YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN WITH YOUR THOUSANDS OF PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS! CONGRATULATIONS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!