March 1st marked the 55th Anniversary of President Kennedy's executive order establishing the Peace Corps. In conjunction with Peace Corps Week and the National Day of Action, RPCVs around the nation gathered together in coffee shops and Capitol Hill to push Congress for increased funding for the Peace Corps and improved healthcare for RPCVs with service-related issues. NorCal organized too coffee houses (in San Francisco and Palo Alto). Don't worry, it is not too late to take action and tell your elected officials your Peace Corps story too!
This year's coordinated funding request including a call to increase funding to $450 million, still only 0.75% of the International Affairs budget, and .01% of the federal budget. Peace Corps iis at a 40-year high for application with nearly 25,000 Americans applying for both the Peace Corps and Peace Corps Response in FY2015, more than double since FY 2013. But there were only about 3,000 placements available for Volunteers to begin service in FY 2015, so our nation turned away thoughts of educated, diverse Americans from serving.
Additionally, this year's coordinated campaign asked Congress for two urgently needed Peace Corps reforms aimed at improving health care for Peace Corps Volunteers who incur serious illness or injuries. The first is to increase the disability pay for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, which is currently less than $25,000 per individual, an amount far too low for disabled RPCVs to live on for life. The second healthcare related request included changes to how medical care is provided to RPCVs with service-related injuries or illness focused on continuity of care, familiarity and efficiency during a period of significant readjustment as Volunteers return home.
Advocacy can take many shapes from collective emailing over coffee and computers, assisting a fellow Volunteer through hardship or raising awareness about an issue in your country of service. If you are interested in getting involved with advocacy or have an idea for an event don't hesitate to reach out to local RPCVs Tara Trepanier Gill.tara.trepanier@gmail.com or Tiffani Jarnigan tiffani.jarnigan@gmail.com who worked to organize this month's advocacy events.
