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144 E FRONT STREET TRAVERSE CITY, MI 49684 plamondons.com MO-SAT 9-6 SU 11-5 THE WORLD WANTS PEACE CORPS BACK: IT NEEDS AND DESERVES OUR SUPPORT

guest opinion

By Kama Ross

Peace Corps Week, which concluded March 5 this year, commemorates President John F. Kennedy’s establishment of the Peace Corps on March 1, 1961. Since early 2020, nearly 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers have been grounded by COVID-19, with no volunteers currently serving abroad. All 60 host nations that had volunteers prior to the pandemic have indicated they look forward to having volunteers return, and soon, they will. It’s my hope, as the president of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Northern Michigan (RPCV-NM), that Peace Corps returns even better than before.

I served as a forester and environmental educator in Paraguay from 1981-1983. I am one of the many RPCVs (240,000 nationwide with over 110+ involved in our Northern Michigan organization) who benefited from volunteer experience. Living in a small, rural community, communicating in Spanish and very poor Guarani (Paraguay has two official languages), learning best stewardship practices for semi-tropical ecosystems, and establishing a native tree seedling nursery from the ground up taught me so many skills and shaped the person I am today. But Peace Corps can always improve, and now is the time for action as volunteers again prepare for service. This year’s theme, “Meet the Moment,” recognizes the many ways that Peace Corps network members have met the challenges of the past two years, setting the stage for the Peace Corps’ ambitious agenda—one focused on innovation, intentional change, and accountability. I am confident about Peace Corps’ future, but the organization needs legislative support. We have seen Washington take to heart the views of the Peace Corps community. Reforms to programs are being adopted. New ideas about incorporating racial justice and equity into agency activities are being advanced. The first step toward completing an overhaul of Peace Corps operations is new authorizing legislation. The “Peace Corps Reauthorization Act” (H.R. 1456) includes provisions to improve in-service and post-service health care; extend the critical mission of a Sexual Assault Advisory Council; enhance several volunteer financial benefits; expedite applications for volunteers wishing to return to service after COVID brought them home; and raise opportunities and respect for Peace Corps service. Peace Corps evacuees joined returned volunteers and staff in formulating these reforms that will improve Peace Corps and expedite the reentry of volunteers. Because these improvements are now part of H.R. 1456, please join me in urging our House Representative, Jack Bergman, to pass this important legislation. Please also urge Senators Stabenow and Peters to actively join the House in supporting bipartisan passage of this key legislation, an important step toward deepening our

nation’s commitment to service and our nation’s highest ideals. Our voices were organized by our returned volunteer membership organization— National Peace Corps Association—to ensure that America’s most iconic service agency lives up to President Kennedy’s grand vision of bringing the world together in peace. This vision is more urgent today due to global threats we all face, from the pandemic to climate change to the retreat of democracy around the world. As volunteers return to the field, battling COVID-19 will be a significant part of their work. As Acting Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn emphasized in her October 2021 testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “The Peace Corps is committed to playing a critical role in global COVID-19 response and recovery by returning volunteers to work in partnership with underserved countries around the world.”

Climate change is also a priority. “There’s no time to waste,” Spahn said in a recent interview. Countries where volunteers serve are feeling some of the most damaging effects of climate change, and Peace Corps will be partnering with communities to address these issues as well.

We have seen Washington take to heart the views of the Peace Corps community. Reforms to programs are being adopted. New ideas about incorporating racial justice and equity into agency activities are being advanced. The first step toward completing an overhaul of Peace Corps operations is new authorizing legislation.

It is crucial that Peace Corps promptly returns to host countries and that Congress passes this key legislation to support volunteers as they experience “the toughest job you’ll ever love.” I am sure they will. Kama Ross recently retired as the District Forester with the Leelanau, Benzie, and Grand Traverse Conservation Districts. She has turned her lifelong desire to serve closer to home and is running for the Leelanau County Commissioner District 5.