Lauren Evans
Professor Gomba
POLSC 1113
26 September 2016
Peace Corps Many people would argue that most federal organizations in the present do more harm than good. While I do believe there is corruption in our government, there are many federal organizations that do a lot of good, including the Peace Corps. In my opinion the Peace Corps is one of the least corrupted institutions of the government. I also believe that it has done a lot of good for the United States of America. I believe this is the case because they are successful at accomplishing their mission. The Peace Corps mission is “To promote world peace and friendship by fulfilling three goals: to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained Volunteers,
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The idea of a peaceful army had been around for a while, but it never seemed like a real possibility until president Kennedy brought it up. President Kennedy had many things to hold his attention, but he persistently devoted a lot of his time to raise awareness for his idea called the Peace Corps. ‘When he felt like he had enough support, he issued an executive order on March 1st of 1961. His next step was to gain Congress’ support. However, he was met with some resistance. Many in Congress believed that the Peace Corps would not be effective or even relevant to United States affairs. In addition, this program would use up a substantial amount of funds. The president warned them that if we didn’t do anything to help these under developed nations, the results would be bad (“Kennedy Establishes Peace Corps”).’ His claims had more truth than Congress was comfortable with. According to the history website, “Revolutions were breaking out around the globe and many of these conflicts—such as in Laos, the Congo, and elsewhere—were in danger of becoming Cold War battlefields (“Kennedy Establishes Peace Corps.”)” These conflicts were enough to convince Congress to make the Peace Corps program …show more content…
Don’t get me wrong though. Volunteers go through a lot of struggle. Sometimes host countries are not very accepting of the American newcomer and the volunteer has a hard time creating relationships. Many volunteers battle the culture shock and the endless amount of free time that they have. However, in the end, the volunteer comes out as a better person. In Micheal Roston’s article, Penny Gage said “Despite the tribulations, I’m grateful for the strength that Peace Corps gave me. Returning to America in 2011, I felt empowered. If I could make it in the second-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere as a single female, then I could tackle anything (Roston, Micheal.)” This is just one of many reasons why the Peace Corps is beneficial to
Within its nine years of existence, the Civilian Conservation Corps did much more than just provide jobs to unemployed men.
The American Experience: The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) tells a story from the 1930’s about Clifford Hammond, who joined the CCC in 1934, Harley Jolley, who joined in 1937, Vincente Ximenes who joined in 1938, Houston Pritchett who joined in 1939, and the writer Jonathan Alter. These five men from different cultures and backgrounds describe what they experienced during the CCC. The CCC was one of the bravest and most popular New Deal experimentations, employing one of the New Deal programs. The CCC is a fundamental moment in the development of modern environmentalism and federal unemployment relief. This program put three million young men to work in camps across America during the Great Depression.
...Bridgewater State University was a complete success. For some that she presented in front of, it could have been the first time that they have ever heard of her community center in Tanzania or the first time they have ever heard of Tanzania. Relating to her overall purpose of being at the university, her message was received well by many. As she said, she wanted to make people more aware that volunteer work can help inspire people to make a difference in their communities. She has successfully presented a case were two people exiled from a country; in which they were brought up, and moved to a country that is 180°different having success in creating a stronger community and were able to have that community become worldly known: with the lack of technology. This is a remarkable and evident accomplishment of the organizational structure utilized for social services.
Over the last 20 years, there has been a significant increase in nonprofit and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in the United States. With the increase in organizations, also came an increase in scandals and in the 1990’s multiple nonprofit and nongovernment organizations lost the public’s trust due to misuse of funds, lavish spending, and improper advances to protected populations. These charity scandals not only hurt direct organization’s reputation, but also led to the mistrust of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations as a whole (Sidel, 2005). To combat these reputations, NGOs and nonprofit organizations began to self-regulate through employing morally obligated and altruistic employees, accountability practices, and lastly through
...ot enacted; one proposal that was, however, created the Peace Corps, which sends volunteer Americans overseas to assist developing countries in meeting their own needs
...he programs that are put in place by the IMC are a means to an end; they are addressing what the IMC believes to be the root cause of the problem rather than solely addressing the immediate needs of the communities in distress. This follows in the idea of instrumental rationality (Barnett et al. 2008). The International Medical Corps looks to stop humanitarian crisis from happening in the future and this is represented in the nature of the focuses of their programs as well as their mission statement. Much of the work done by the International Medical Corps focuses on building health care systems for underserved communities that result in an improvement in the overall quality of life in those communities.
Careers in the Nonprofit Sector: Doing Well By Doing Good. Washington: The Taft Group. Wilson, A. and Pimm, G. (1996). The tyranny of the volunteer: the care and feeding of voluntary workforces.
The Peace Corps has accomplished its goal to change perceptions of Americans by people of other cultures. In the Peace Corps study, “The Impact of Peace Corps Service on Host Communities and Host Country Perceptions of Americans”, 30 percent of respondents perceived Americans as arrogant, self-centered, or selfish prior to interaction with a volunteer (Kerley & Jenkins, 2010). Before communication with a Peace Corps volunteer, one respondent with an uneven work-life balance reported thinking that “[people from the United States] were workaholics who don’t pay attention to other people and don’t know how to have fun or entertain themselves” (Kerley & Jenkins, 2010). “While most individuals reported a positive or neutral opinion of American prior to interacting with Volunteers, most (73%) still reported having an even more positive opinion after the interaction” (Kerley & Jenkins, 2010). Through the development of the Peace Corps the grotesque stereotype of the typical American has been eradicated in countries where the Peace Corps serves.
The USTDA is not praised by the public as much as other agencies. Many people view their work as “unnecessary”. This was never directly stated, but some U.S. citizens feel the U.S. should stay out of other countries business. An example of this is the differing political views on U.S. soldiers in the Middle East. No one takes time to look at the facts and how much revenue this agency is bringing the U.S. This past year, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has generated 85 United States dollars for every 1 dollar they put into these emerging projects; and anyone who finds that illegitimate, or inefficient, needs to be further informed about the Agency’s mission. It runs as effectively and efficiently as any governmental agency can, while running into conflict and corruption as previously stated. The USTDA attempts to respond to the needs of groups in the U.S. by targeting the countries they sponsor to make every American happy. Although there is always room for improvement, which is true in any situation, USTDA runs swiftly and sets up a gateway for civil foreign relations in outside
Still some people move away from the thought of volunteering at all. They think that it is beneath them, they find it demeaning. Think giving up your valuable time to help someone out. "I don’t get paid I don’t work", they say. My time is precious, I barely have enough time for me and my family, I
Volunteering enables a person to develop new skills that he or she would otherwise not have been able to develop. Unlike most other organizations, a charitable organization is happy to give positions to passionate, though inexperienced, individuals who desire to help others and benefit the community. Therefore, an individual with little experience in a field of work can gain meaningful skills that he or she can use in the future. For example, while I volunteered at the hospital this summer, I learned about the daily work lives and professional duties of doctors and nurses. Had I not volunteered, I would not have learned about these things. I was always interested in the medical field, but volunteering at the hospital let me explore my interests and en...
Volunteering in your local community is great way to give back and set a positive example at the same time. Let’s take a look at some of the problems in our community that affect many people.
Volunteers are the backbone of organizing a strong and successful Olympic Games. They are the reason each Olympic Games runs smoothly and are always enjoyable to watch. What these volunteers might not obtain with money, they do obtain in a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We are able to look at past successful Olympic Games volunteer programs such as Sydney and London and construct our own for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
A reflection of my volunteering experience can be summarized in two words: Life-changing. It is hard to explain the feelings that occur when you involve yourself in selfless acts for your community, such as volunteering. There is a feeling in your heart that you cannot ignore, maybe it is the happiness you feel or the overflow of emotions in helping others. In other words, it is a feeling in which you want to share with others. Maybe with a friend, maybe a classmate, maybe a family member, or maybe even a stranger. Either way, spreading how life-changing volunteering can be is a great start to making a positive change in your community by simply by involving others.
Volunteering benefits a person by building connections with peers, improving family life, expanding career skills, overcoming self doubt, having lasting life impressions, and creating new opportunities. Just a small act can make a huge difference in someone’s life. The future is dependent on the individual person and the people they surround themselves with. Just a few hours will change both the volunteer’s life and the one that is in need.