{
  "id": "98-215",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "98-215",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 105081,
      "date": "1998-03-06",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:55:52.996941",
      "title": "The Peace Corps: Background and Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "Since the Peace Corps was established by President Kennedy on March 1, 1961, more than\n151,000\nvolunteers have served in 132 countries. The Peace Corps Act sets out three goals for the Agency:\nto help people of other countries meet their needs for trained personnel; to help promote a better\nunderstanding of the American people by those served; and to help promote a better understanding\nof other people by Americans. Volunteers serve in a diverse range of sectors -- in education, health,\nsmall business, the environment, and agriculture -- working at the grassroots level, usually in small\nvillages and towns, learning the local language, and serving in jobs that are community and people\noriented. The Peace Corps is a unique organization that, while serving a foreign policy purpose,\nremains distinct from other foreign policy and public diplomacy agencies in its grassroots, people-to-\npeople, character.\n  In January 1998, President Clinton called for a 10,000 volunteer force in the year 2000, up from\nthe current, roughly 6,600 volunteer and trainee level. To meet this objective, the FY1999 budget\nrequest for the Peace Corps is $48 million higher than the previous year. Some in Congress have\nquestioned the Peace Corps' determination of what countries to work in and how many volunteers\nto place in those countries. The Peace Corps balances budgetary, security, program effectiveness,\nand country development factors in weighing such decisions. \n  Some, particularly those in the returned volunteer community, would like to see more resources\ndevoted to the Peace Corps' third goal of expanding Americans' understanding of the world. Two\nprograms -- the World Wise Schools and the Peace Corps Fellows Program -- are currently the main\nactivities under the third goal. In 1996, the Peace Corps established a new \"Crisis Corps,\" to provide\nshort-term emergency and humanitarian assistance at the community level. Using current and former\nvolunteers, it has undertaken five assignments to date.\n  In meeting the objectives of the Government Performance and Results Act, the Peace Corps\nwould have difficulty demonstrating its contribution to the goal of promoting world peace and\nfriendship, and shares with other government agencies the problem of measuring level of\nperformance. Inadequate programming and support of volunteers has been a recurrent criticism over\nthe years, which the Peace Corps is attempting to address through new strategic planning methods\nand efforts to see how volunteers can be better trained and prepared for their assignments. \n  The Peace Corps has made efforts in recent years to improve recruitment, including raising the\nnumber of minorities represented and recruiting volunteers with newly required skills, such as those\nwith business backgrounds. It has also taken significant steps to meet health care concerns,\nincluding insuring that post-service volunteers were well-informed regarding workers compensation\nbenefits.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/98-215",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}