It's all about the food, really...
What: August Dinner Meeting
Where: Peace Museum
314 W. Institute Place
When: Thursday, August 24, 2000; 7-9p.m.
How Much?: $15
RSVP: Marium Hussain or Nancy Kramer (773-725-6944)

CAPCA NEWS

Message from the President

Next month, at our dinner meeting, we will elect several new members to our Board of Directors. In fact, there are five elective positions open for two-year terms (through 2002). Several current Board members will be running for re-election, but we are eager to add new blood and fresh ideas to this leadership group. Additionally, I have the option-which I will definitely exercise-of appointing five additional Board members for one-year terms. Our focus throughout the coming year will be on membership renewal. We are not just updating the database ...we want to reach out to more and more RPCVs and friends to join in our activities-monthly dinners, service projects, Peace Corps Day (early March), Founder's Day (early June), advocacy on behalf of international engagement by our country ... and any other things CAPCA members want to do. If you think you might be interested in joining the Board or a committee, please call me or any other Board member (see p. 3 for contact information), and we will be happy to tell you what we know. Our September dinner meeting will be held toward the end of the month at a downtown location. Watch for next month's newsletter or check the website, www.capca.org for information. I hope your summer has been fun and relaxing!
 

Peace Museum Welcomes CAPCA
by Jackie Gordon

With daily accounts of murder, rape, robbery, racism, and war, the world seems to have accepted crime and violence as a fact of life. However, on the corner of Franklin and Institute, in Chicago's River North Gallery District, there is a museum dedicated to changing that fact into fallacy.

The Peace Museum was created in order to raise public awareness about the level of violence in our daily lives, inspire a new understanding that peace begins with oneself and in one's own community, inspire solutions to the problems of violence in and near our homes, provide skills for tolerance and peaceful conflict resolution, and present new ideas that lay a cultural foundation to transform dependence upon violence into the active creation of peace.

The Peace Museum's mission is to motivate children and adults to achieve creative solutions to the problems of violence. The museum achieves its mission through two components. The first includes over 60 acclaimed exhibits that feature music, social change, war, refugees, civil-rights, etc. The other component is an educational outreach program called "Drive-By Peace" that hires educators to teach peace and conflict resolution in Chicago elementary schools. The program is in its ninth year, and has reached over 700 students.

The Peace Museum also holds an annual awards ceremony to recognize individuals who have contributed in revolutionary ways to the process of peace. These Community Peace-Maker awards have been given to people like Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., students from the Medill School of Journalism, and Secretary of State Jesse White.

The Peace Museum attracts local and international visitors. "I'm a student at NYU," one said. "And I came to visit the museum because the sign caught my eye. It's not like the other galleries around here. This museum is actually saying something." Another visitor from the area said "the museum intrigues me because it is able to take an elusive concept like peace, and transform it into art." An elementary school class from France also made its way to the museum, as well as visitors from Germany and Japan.

In order for the Peace Museum to successfully continue with its mission and goals, it needs your support. The Peace Museum is looking for volunteers to contribute 2-5 hours/week in the following areas: marketing, proposal and grant-writing, finance, and technology. They need people to provide good, creative ideas. If you feel that peace should be a priority, please lend a hand. Contact Nancy Kramer at 773/725-6944.

The museum will host the August CAPCA dinner meeting, featuring traditional foods from Pakistan, on Thursday, August 24th, from 7-9 pm. RPCVs and friends are welcome. For directions, check the website at www.peacemuseum.org, or call 312/440-1860.
 

Area of Service Events
Former Soviet Countries
RPCV Happy Hour Volunteers from Moldova to Mongolia are invited to join an FSU/CIS Happy Hour on Tuesday, August 15th at Fado Irish Pub, 100 W. Grand Ave., in Chicago. Meet around 5:30 on the first floor; if you arrive later just listen for the group ordering vodka by the bottle and singing in Russian. Fado is at the corner of Clark and Grand, two blocks west of the Grand St. el stop.

Mali RPCV Reunion
CALLING ALL MALI RPCVs! A couple in Bloomington, Ind. is organizing a reunion for all Mali RPCVs on Labor Day weekend. It will be a camping weekend, so bring what you'll need. It is guaranteed to be a good time. So call all your friends from training and be there for the fun. Contact Brian DeFilippo for more details at bdefilippo@aol.com or 847/650-1080.

Organize your own area-of-service event! Send a message to the newsletter editor by the last Friday of the month, sign the guestbook at www.capca.org, or post a message to the CAPCA listserv: capca-announce@egroups.com.

Upcoming Events
August Volunteer Opportunity with Friends of Chicago River Join CAPCA and the Friends of the Chicago River

Saturday August 12, 9 am-noon to help with Purple Loosestrife control. This invasive species must be cleared to restore the area's original ecosystem.

Meet in the Prairie Wolf Slough parking lot at 9:00 am Prairie Wolf Slough is located on Half Day Rd. in Highland Park (Bannockburn), one mile east of Route 43. Public parking is on the south side of the street. If you plan to attend, please contact Kara Malenfant at 773/561-0310 or malenfan@ alexia.lis.uiuc.edu. Ride-sharing is encouraged as this location is not close to CTA transportation. Let Kara know if you need/can provide a ride, and where you are located.

For more information about Prairie Wolf Slough restoration, contact Al Pilgrim at 847/328-0145, or visit the website.

Watch future newsletters for more information about upcoming volunteer opportunities ... events at WTTW (Chicago's public television station) and Habitat for Humanity are in the works for this fall.

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Invitation to Join ISID

You are invited to join the Illinois Society for International Development (ISID), a group working to promote awareness of international development issues in Illinois, and encourage networking and discussion. ISID organizes events on the second Tuesday of each month, focusing on international development issues.

Next Meeting: New Opportunities for Trade and Investment in Africa
Join ISID Tuesday, August 8, 2000, at 6 pm. at the World Trade Center-Chicago Merchandise Mart, Floor 23/24.

Guest Speaker Yolanda Rice will discuss new opportunities for trade and investment in Africa, and how the African Trade Institute (ATI) is responding. Ms. Rice is the Director for the African Trade Institute, which was established by the World Trade Center Chicago. Admission: $2 for non-members, free for members. For further information about the event, please contact Gregg Baker at 312/467-0613 or gbaker. usaid@wtcc.org, or Karen Egerer at 312/583-9430 or kegere1@uic.edu. Point your browser to ... http://www.egroups.com/dir/ Regional/Africa A listing of various Africa related listservs and discussion groups

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PEACE CORPS NEWS

Former Peace Corps Director and Senator Paul Coverdell Dies

The Returned Peace Corps movement is saddened by the untimely death of Senator Paul Coverdell July 18th as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. A letter of condolence has been sent to Mrs. Coverdell on behalf of the National Peace Corps Association. Senator Coverdell very capably led the Peace Corps at a time of significant change, including movement into Eastern Europe and the establishment of the World Wise Schools Program. He was a champion of Peace Corps in the Senate, particularly in the difficult budget process. He had agreed to serve on the Steering Committee of the 40th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. He will be greatly missed.

Letters of condolence can be sent to: Mrs. Nancy Coverdell; 100 Colony Square, Suite 300; 1175 Peachtree Street; Atlanta, GA 30361. Source: NPCA listserv

NPCA Statement
by Peace Corps Director Mark Schneider

Senator Paul Coverdell will be remembered as one of the finest directors in the history of the Peace Corps, and we are tremendously saddened by his sudden and tragic death. On behalf of nearly 7,000 PCVs serving today in 76 countries and the many thousands of volunteers who served when he was director of the Peace Corps, I extend our deepest sympathies to his family. Senator Coverdell served as the 11th Director of the Peace Corps from 1989 to 1991. During his distinguished tenure, he created new opportunities for PCVs to serve in the emerging democracies of Eastern and Central Europe in the aftermath of the Cold War. Under his bold leadership and vision, the Peace Corps sent its first volunteers to countries such as Bulgaria, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. He also set in motion the eventual establishment of Peace Corps programs in China and Mongolia, and a return of volunteers to Nicaragua and other countries. Senator Coverdell also saw the extraordinary value that Peace Corps volunteers can bring to young people here at home. He established the World Wise Schools, an innovative global education program that connects Peace Corps volunteers overseas with thousands of students in the United States, helping them gain a better understanding of other people, countries, and cultures. After he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, Senator Coverdell remained a strong friend of the Peace Corps and tireless champion of our volunteers. Everyone associated with the Peace Corps will miss Senator Coverdell and forever remember his leadership as director. We thank him for service to our country and his immeasurable contributions to the cause of peace and freedom around the world.

What We Do For Our Country?
To honor the vision and legacy of our founder, President John F. Kennedy, the National Peace Corps Association is leading the plans for the 40th celebration of the Peace Corps through activities, events, and a national conference. The events will showcase the past, current, and future spirit of service of the Peace Corps community. The three main components of the 40th Anniversary will include Volunteer Day in March of 2001 (March is when the executive order to establish the Peace Corps was signed), a gala at the Kennedy Center in May of 2001 (May 29th is the birthday of John F. Kennedy), and NPCA's national conference in September 2001. March 2001: NPCA will kick off the 40th Anniversary with Volunteer Day across the country. NPCA's 130+ groups will conduct a wide range of activities and programs in their own communities during the first week of the month. Volunteer Day will be a clear demonstration that Americans who served as Peace Corps Volunteers continue to serve their communities when they return home. May 2001: NPCA will honor the vision and legacy of our founder with a gala celebration at the Kennedy Center that will incorporate the music, dance, art, and other rich traditions of the countries in which Peace Corps served for four decades. September 2001: NPCA will bring together the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer community for a national conference in Washington, DC. Attendees will bring themselves up to date on the countries where they served, look ahead to new NPCA programs in international and domestic voluntary service, examine the nature of current American engagement abroad, and participate in memorial services to honor those volunteers who died in service.

Soliciting Contributions for 40th Anniversary Show
HELP NPCA PUT ON A GRAND SHOW! Please submit your stories, letters, poems (yours and your host country's), music tapes, taped talks, video tapes, artifacts, photos, slides, film, art work, contacts for musicians or dance troupes and anything else that expresses the essence of your experience with Peace Corps by August 22, 2000. See your poems, stories, and songs come to life on stage for the NPCA's 40 Years of Peace Corps Show at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, in May 2001. After compiling your contributions, we will make a resource "book" to use in the production of the show. Send your items by mail, e-mail, or fax to Cori Welbourn, NPCA's Executive Coordinator for the 40th Anniversary. Please make sure to label everything you send with your name, address, phone number, e-mail, country of service and brief description of the items enclosed. Please indicate whether you would like it returned; we will make every effort to return items, but cannot guarantee it. Please do not send originals. Contact Cori at forty@rpcv.org for more information. Send your contributions to: NPCA; 1900 L St. NW, Suite 205; Washington, DC 20036; or by fax to 202/293-7554 by August 22.

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Taste of Armenia Street Festival

How many chances do you get to eat stuffed grape leaves on the street while playing backgammon with an expert? Well, then, come to the Taste of Armenia Street Festival!

When:  Sunday, August 27 from Noon until 6p.m.
Where: St. James Armenian Church, 816 Clark Street Evanston

 
Live music, dancing, children's games, shish kebabs, tabouleh, paklava, cultural information

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Save the Date: November 1, 2000

CAPCA will join the OAK PARK COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS for their annual dinner meeting to celebrate 37 years of funding Peace Corps Partnership Projects-about 75 projects in all.

This will be our November dinner meeting. We will celebrate the year-end holidays at a mid-December potluck.

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Join the CAPCA Listserve

To subscribe:  capca-announce-subscribe@onelist.com

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Annual Summer Camp Vista Weekend

It's that time of year again ... time to hike, bike, canoe, swim, eat, and sing around the campfire with RPCVs and friends. Come to Wisconsin the weekend of Aug 18-20 for a quick getaway from the city.

Contact Brian DeFilippo at bdefilippo@aol.com or 847/650-1080 for more information and to RSVP. Cost is approximately $40 for food and lodging. See you there!

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Call For Nominations

CAPCA Board of Directors 2000-2002 There will be five vacancies on the CAPCA Board of Directors, beginning in September 2000. The Board seeks motivated, involved, interested people to lend new ideas and talents to CAPCA programs. Please contact Leslie Wilson or another Board member to suggest a dues-paying CAPCA member for September's ballot. Self-nominations will be accepted.

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JOB OPPORTUNITIES

The Haymarket Group, Ltd

The Haymarket Group is a public affairs consulting firm-an organization of professionals skilled in government, politics, the media, the law, community organizing, public relations, and mediation. They are seeking two Junior Associates, to start immediately. Job Description: Junior Associates will be assigned to assist senior staff on multiple projects with multiple clients. Assignments will vary greatly depending upon the type of client and their contracted services. Successful candidates should be willing to handle all aspects of Haymarket's work from drafting letters, sending faxes, staffing fundraising events, writing meeting minutes, and making phone calls, to planning events, planning operational strategy, writing complex documents and analytical assessments, and interacting with high-profile individuals.Successful candidates should be detailed-oriented and able to juggle many assignments.

Qualifications: Bachelor's degree required. Majors in Political Science, Government, and Communications are encouraged to apply. Successful candidates must be self-motivated, organized, and able to carry out multiple assignments under deadline. Proficient computer skills in Microsoft Office programs are mandatory. Strong writing skills are particularly important for advancement. Preference is given to those candidates who show an interest in politics and community activism.

Salary: Mid to high twenties (depending on experience and qualifications).

To Apply: Mail, fax, or e-mail cover letter and resume to the attention of Cheri Canfield. Applicants should be prepared to submit writing samples upon request. The Haymarket Group, Ltd.; 54 W. Hubbard Street, Suite 200; Chicago, IL 60610; Attn: Cheri Canfield; Fax: 312/645-0974

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Visit the website for more information on several job openings:

Several Positions at the Energy Cooperative: http://www.cnt.org/coopjobs.htm
Intern, Community Legislative Information Service of Illinois: http://www.cnt.org/employment.htm
Organizer, Chicagoland Transportation and Air Quality Commission: http://www.cnt.org/ctaqcjob.htm
Program Associate, Community Energy Division: http://www.cnt.org/cedpa.htm
Executive Director, Institute for Location Efficiency: http://www.cnt.org/employment.htm

Center for Cultural Interchange

The Center for Cultural Interchange (CCI) in St. Charles, Il. (near Chicago) has two immediate job openings.

Outbound Program Coordinator: Individual will assist Outbound Program Director in developing CCI's study abroad program for American students. Position requires excellent administrative and customer service skills. Marketing, counseling, and foreign language experience a plus. Excellent career opportunity for those interested in student exchange.

Inbound Program Coordinator: Individual will assist Director of Development in managing a variety of short-term exchange programs in the United States. Position requires excellent administrative and customer service skills. Marketing, counseling, and foreign language experience a plus. Excellent career opportunity for those individuals interested in student exchange.E-mail or fax resumes to Kathleen at kathleen@cci-exchange.com or 630/377-2307.

Rotary Foundation of Rotary International

Scholarships Coordinator: Chicago (Evanston)-based, non-profit Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is accepting job applications for the position of Scholarships Coordinator for its Ambassadorial Scholarships Program. The Ambassadorial Scholarships Program is currently the world's largest, privately-funded international scholarships program. Primary Job Responsibilities Include: Working with U.S. students abroad, international students in the U.S., and non-U.S. exchanges. Advising scholars and Rotarians on ambassadorial responsibilities, studying country specific information (university admission, visa requirements, etc.), and organizing pre-departure requirements. Maintaining written, telephone, and electronic communication with scholars, Rotarians, and study institutions worldwide. Responsibility for disbursement of approximately $2.5 million in scholarships, monitoring award budget in detail. Qualified Candidates Will Possess: Bachelor's Degree, excellent written and verbal communication skills. In addition to fluency in English, candidates should have proficiency in a second language (Italian or Korean preferred) through formal language coursework and previous study abroad experience. Experience living and studying abroad, especially in Italy, Korea, or Africa. Familiarity with Microsoft Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, databases, or comparable software. Knowledge of PeopleSoft 5.12 or 7.52 is a plus. Enthusiasm for working as part of a team of 10 coordinators, with the ability to also manage projects independently. Supervisory and leadership potential. Former Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars and or/Rotaract members encouraged to apply. Send resume and salary history to Sue Bender, HR Supervisor; Rotary International; 1560 Sherman Avenue; Evanston, IL 60201; 847/328-8281 (fax). No phone calls or e-mails, please. Only those candidates we wish to interview will be contacted.

Deborah's Place

Deborah's Place, a private, not-for-profit corporation that serves women in Chicago who are homeless or formerly homeless, is looking for a few skilled problem-solvers for positions in their Education, Employment, Residential, and Tenant Services programs. Ideal candidates will have knowledge of homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse; the ability to respond appropriately in a crisis, good oral and written communications skills, and experience working as part of a team. Fax or send a cover letter and resume to Artaisha Prosper; Deborah's Place, 1742 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60647; 773/292-0377.

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CAPCA BOARD MEETING MINUTES

June 14, 2000

The CAPCA board convened at the Chicago Regional Peace Corps office at 6:15 pm. Present were Stephanie Arnold, Maxine Gere, Wallace Goode, Helen Haugsnes, Nancy Kramer, Hannah Leiterman, Beth Versten, Carol Wilkerson, and Leslie Wilson. Absent were Anthony Bradford, Mary Collins, David Pope, Liz Thomas, and Pat Thompson.

Goode moved to approve the May board meeting minutes as corrected. Wilkerson seconded the motion, and it passed.

Financial Report
A summary of transactions from May 2, 2000, to June 13, 2000, showed an end balance of $14,416.41. Deposited in this interim were Founder's Day checks, donations, and silent auction receipts as well as CAPCA membership rebates from NPCA, and dues paid directly to CAPCA for membership. Goode moved to accept the Treasurer's report; Leiterman seconded the motion, and it was so moved. Founder's Day: Preliminary financial results were reported to be favorable. A full report, when all expense receipts and donations have been calculated, will be presented at the July Board meeting. It was determined that sufficient profit was made to release funds to Connections to sponsor one student for this year's summer trip to Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The approximated cost is $2,670. Goode moved that the funds be paid to Connections; Versten seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Old Business
Congratulations and many thanks were expressed to Founder's Day co-chairs Nancy Kramer and Helen Haugsnes for their major efforts in making this a successful event. Appreciation goes as well to the committee of volunteers who worked during the event to help make it run so smoothly.

New Business:
An extended board meeting has been scheduled to take place Sunday, July 16, from 12 to 4 pm at the home of Goode. A short business meeting will be convened, but the major focus of the meeting will be CAPCA's membership. In addition to defining what CAPCA's membership should be, discussions will center on creating a strategy that will look ahead and anticipate new avenues of electronic communication; exploring ways in which to create, service, and maintain a membership database; determining what information should be stored in that database and for what purposes; and developing a task force to best serve the short-term and long-term needs of CAPCA's members. Establishing additional task forces for the purposes of handling major projects such as Founder's Day and the CAPCA Web site will also be discussed.

Robyn Michaels has arranged the July monthly meeting for Tuesday, July 18, at La Creperie, 2845 North Clark Street, Chicago. Kramer moved to adjourn the meeting at 8 pm.

Goode seconded the motion, and it passed.