RPCV on The Human Faces of the USAID Shutdown
I WORK IN GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT, A FIELD that has suddenly become the focus of intense political controversy—even though most Americans still don’t know the basics of what it is, how it is conducted, or why it matters. When we talk about global development or foreign aid, here—at the risk of oversimplifying—is what we mean: the strengthening of capacities in economic development, health, education, energy, food security and safety, and governance, by means of humanitarian and technical assistance, with respect for human rights, and in ways that are congruent with the cultures and traditions of host cultures. Putting it more simply,...
Former RPCV Details Cuts to National Park Service
When unemployed marine biologist Lanny Flaherty poked his head into the ranger's station at the Wallowa Whitman National Forest in the Pacific Northwest and asked to be a volunteer, he said it put him on a 13-year career path with the U.S. Forest Service that included stints as a botanist, a wildfire resource adviser and a range ecologist. When he wasn't researching the effects of vegetation on fire behavior or identifying fungi on national forest land, the 40-year-old Flaherty said he was a "red-card" carrying certified firefighter, helping battle some of the biggest wildland fires in the nation. In 2016,...
Opinion | Madison Peace Corps alums work to counter Trump policies
Can you imagine anything more antithetical to the monumental jingoism of Donald Trump than the mission and spirit of the nation’s Peace Corps? Neither can I. Many of us these days are hunkering down, avoiding most Trump and Elon Musk news and quietly grieving our nation’s direction. So, when I learned that a local group of Peace Corps alums is working to actively push back, I took notice. Some background: The city of Madison, specifically the University of Wisconsin, is a long-established hotbed for Peace Corps recruitment. The campus produced more volunteers than any other American university in 2023, and...