Click Read More to read a letter received from RI announcing a major partnership agreement between Rotary and the Peace Corps.
 
 
Dear Rotary Leaders -
 
It is a pleasure to announce Rotary and Peace Corps signed a service partnership agreement earlier this year to help enhance our club and district service activities locally and around the world.
 
Peace Corps, an independent U.S. federal agency, sends U.S. citizens abroad to help tackle the most pressing needs around the world while promoting better international understanding of American culture and enhancing global awareness. Peace Corps Volunteers live and work alongside the people they support for a period of two or more years and concentrate efforts to create sustainable change that lives on long after their period of in-country service. Peace Corps currently has volunteers in more than 60 countries.
 
By working together with active and returned Peace Corps Volunteers, we can continue addressing Rotary's six areas of focus while enhancing goodwill, international understanding, and building capacity to address the most pressing community concerns.
 
While abroad, Peace Corps Volunteers support sustainable change by working with local stakeholders invested in improving communities. Returned volunteers, those who have completed their in-country service and are back in the U.S., offer a wealth of service project knowledge, interesting community insights from living abroad, and often maintain strong relationships with their host communities and local partners which can include Rotary and Rotaract clubs. In fact, a number of U.S. Rotarians and Rotaractors are Peace Corps alumni and many of our clubs and districts around the world have already worked with local Peace Corps Volunteers in their local communities.
 
Read the Rotary-Peace Corps partnership fact sheet for more information on how clubs and districts can partner with either actively service or returned Peace Corps volunteers. Working with your District Community and International Service Chairs, encourage your clubs to contact a Peace Corps Regional Recruitment Office to connect with local Peace Corps alumni in your region.
 
I hope your district will welcome this opportunity to increase our service capacity within our six areas of focus.
 
Sincerely,
 
John P. Hewko
General Secretary
Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation