This 3-day gathering for ALL members of the Peace Corps community includes special sessions for job seekers, group leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, musicians, development professionals, and Peace Corps enthusiasts of all ages with sessions like: 

• What next? Peace Corps Products into Businesses
• Election 2012/Advocacy
• Music of the World - Minnesota
• RPCV Graduate Research Conference "Bringing the World Home...to Grad School: Engaged Scholarship post-Peace Corps  

A variety of accommodations are available for out-of-towners. We have set up a special Hospitality network for you to stay with local RPCVs or in cool, affordable overnight rentals on the National Peace Corps Association Tripping.com network.

Can't make it to the event? Follow the play-by-play on Twitter (hashtag #PCCMN12) and Facebook. Check out the schedule so that you don't miss the events that interest YOU!

We're almost ready to launch! At Peace Corps Connect: Minneapolis 2012, we'll be officially unveiling our new service travel program. You asked for it, we're doing it. 

Each trip will feature small group travel (up to 20), hands-on service projects, educational programs and a close-up view of the impact of volunteer service. Our trips will be operated by Terra Education, an experienced leader in educational travel for students, now expanding to offer customized adult programs under the brand Discover Corps. CEO (and RPCV) Andrew Motiwalla will be in Minneapolis to answer questions and meet fellow RPCVs. 

People on our dedicated service travel list will be the first to receive details about these trips. We expect spaces to flll fast. Sign up, check that your passport is current, and start packing!  

We had been tweeting and Facebooking about it for weeks:  Save the Date. On June 8, Mark K. Shriver, senior vice president of U.S. Programs at Save the Children and son of Peace Corps founder Sargent Shriver, would be coming to the NPCA offices to join us for our weekly #RPCVChat on Twitter to talk about his new memoir, A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father Sargent Shriver. But did Mark know how to tweet?... 

The National Peace Corps Association and its local member groups are collaborating with Peace Corps on four Third Goal Expos in 2012.  Make your plans now to stop in at one of these free events:   

• Nashville, TN on June 23
• Minneapolis, MN on July 1 (immediately following Peace Corps Connect: Minneapolis 2012)
• Providence, RI on September 22
• Los Angeles, CA on September 29

In this economy, businesses want to hire the most qualified, creative, intelligent, passionate candidate they can for a new position. We at the National Peace Corps Association think that people who have served in the Peace Corps - in a developing country with countless chances to develop cross-cultural skills and resourcefulness - make some of the best colleagues around!

 

One of the most enjoyable parts of our work at the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) is helping to facilitate reunions, and to share those stories of reunion, whether on the country, group or individual level. This bringing together of our community is the key motivation behind Project 250K, our effort to find all Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and former staff. You can't be reunited if you aren't connected.  Read about other reunions and find out how you can get involved!     

"I'm going to the Peace Corps Connect event in Minneapolis because, as the name suggests, I want to stay connected to the Peace Corps.  I recently became a member of the NPCA in December 2011 and was excited to hear about this event.  I'm interested in the events offered that I signed up for, but I'm particularly intrigued by the "special event"..." "I hope to build connections with RPCVs and/or find RPCVs that I've lost track of since I returned," says Erica Brouillette, who served in Armenia.   

What's your level of education?  Did Peace Corps inspire to you pursue higher education?  Did Peace Corps influence your course of study?

We've got a few quick questions for our readers about Peace Corps and your educational path.
  

SIT Graduate Institute is still accepting applications for Fall 2012 master's programs. SIT provides Internationally and interculturally focused master's degrees in International Education, TESOL, Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation, Sustainable Development, and Service, Leadership and Management. SIT offers a competitive scholarship for NPCA members and scholarships are still available.

The National Peace Corps Association is pleased to welcome two new NPCA-affiliated groups: The Brooklyn-Queens RPCV Chapter and RPCVs@EPA.  We're so happy to hear of new groups coming together to connect with fellow RPCVs!

Our online store offers a wide selection of Peace Corps and NPCA logo merchandise -- and yes, the much requested Peace Corps patch! 

Wearing logo merchandise is a great way to spark conversations about Peace Corps! Your purchase supports the efforts of the National Peace Corps Association.  

Thank you for your support!

Visit the NPCA Online Store 

Madécasse makes world-class, award-winning "bean-to-bar" chocolate in Madagascar -- where the RPCV company founders Tim McCollum and Brett Beach served. Each bar produces more than four times the economic impact of fair trade alone.  

Try one of their extraordinary products to benefit the NPCA's 50th Anniversary activities. Write "NPCA20" in the comment box at check out from now until September 19th and NPCA will receive 20% of the proceeds of your purchase. Proceeds will benefit the 50th Anniversary activities.  

Purchase Madécasse Chocolate