volunteers. In addition, hotels and motels quoted rates double and triple those quoted by Barat. Although the WAE employee participated in several of the training sessions as an ACTION employee, she did not participate either as an employee of ACTION or an associate of Barat College in any aspect of the development of any of the contracts. She did not take part in the March 1 and 3 sessions.

It was the opinion of our General Counsel, after examining all relevant factors in this case, that an appearance of or potential for conflict of interest with the contracts with Barat College was so minimal that no action was necessary. I agreed with this recommendation and have taken no action.

6. An individual who became a regular employee of ACTION on April 6, 1977 was a consultant with the Urban Institute prior to coming to this Agency. On September 30, 1977, ACTION awarded a $9,600 contract to the Urban Institute to design an evaluation model for the Youth Community Services project.

The ACTION employee was not associated with the Urban Institute on September 30, 1977, and is not now associated with the Institute. While serving as a consultant to the Institute, she did not participate in any way in the development of the contract proposal. Nor did she participate in any way, as an ACTION employee, in the decision to award the contract to the Institute. The contract came out of the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation. The employee works in the Director's Office.

I concurred in the General Counsel's opinion that this set of facts presents no actual, appearance of or potential for conflict of interest. No action has been taken.

PEACE CORPS

Mr. MICHEL. Regarding the Peace Corps, in fiscal year 1977, your predecessor's budget called for the training of 5,800 man-year volunteers for $68 million. Congress provided $82 million, but you were able to provide 5,500 man-years of training. What happened to that extra $14 million we provided, which was intended to increase the size of the program?

Mr. BROWN. In January, 1976, my predecessor proposed to produce 5,708 volunteer-years of service on a budget of $67,155,000 in fiscal year 1977. In the preceding year, fiscal year 1976, he had produced 5,825 volunteer years with an appropriation of $81,266,000. In fiscal year 1977, which began nearly six months before I became Director of ACTION, Peace Corps actually produced 5,590 years of volunteer service with an appropriation of $80,000,000. This result includes the full-year impact on an increase of $50 per month in the volunteer readjustment allowance, rather than 6 months, as was the case in fiscal year 1976. It is clear from the legislative history of the fiscal year 1977 appropriation act that the $80,000,000 appropriated did not contemplate an increase in the number of volunteers.

Mr. MICHEL. I understand you are establishing stateside training centers for the Peace Corps which simulate foreign countries, whereas previously much of the training was done in the foreign countries themselves. Why the change?

Mr. BROWN. The changes we are planning in training are directly related to the Peace Corps' planned changes in programming and recruiting. As we move to a programming in areas which can utilize the energies and dedication of volunteers with broad backgrounds, rather than highly technical individual placements, we will have to strengthen skills training. In many instances this will require an increased use of stateside or third country locations. Wherever it is possible and appropriate, skill training held outside the country of assignment will be run under conditions similar to those in the country-wells training for the Sahel might be carried out in Arizona for example. We also anticipate that volunteers will be increasingly placed in rural community settings, which will result in increased requirements for cultural adaptation and language skills (where the official language is a European one, but volunteer effectiveness also demands knowledge of an indigenous language). Such training may thus have to be lengthened as well as broadened to equip the volunteers, and some preliminary language or cross-cultural training imparted before arrival in-country. As we reach out to broaden our recruitment appeal to bring in a wider spectrum of Americans, of different age groups, racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, it may require the special techniques be applied in language and cross-cultural training.

Each traininig cycle will be designed to prepare the volunteers for country and project circumstances which they will enter. In most instances this will include continued use of in-country training for at least a portion of each cycle, building on our experience and practice which shows that for the language and cultural adaptation components there is no location like the one where the volunteer will spend his or her two years. In such cases we will seek to develop basic skill training modules for such widely needed projects as water supply, grain production, and freshwater

fisheries. These modules can then be widely used in stateside or other sites, followed by adaptation to country conditions at the overseas training session in the country of assignment.

We are also looking at opportunities to combine groups of trainees for skill. training for more than one country, where the project needs and country conditions are sufficiently similar. These changes in training will requrie more sophisticated planning and coordination of training then in the past, as well as additional. expense. Eventually we expect that the use of skill-training modules will result in savings and thus increased cost-effectiveness. Our view is that training must be flexible and responsive to our policies, and that improvements such as these are vital to the Peace Corps' success.

FOREIGN SERVICE RESERVE

Mr. MICHEL. Would you identify for us all positions vacated since your appointment as Director which were previously classified GS and are now FSR (Foreign Service Reserve)?

Mr. BROWN. No jobs have been vacated since my appointment which were previously GS and are now FSR.

Mr. MICHEL. Please identify all new FSR positions in Support Services since February 1, 1977.

Mr. BROWN. New FSR positions in Support Services are as follows: Deputy Assistant Director for Administration and Finance, FR-341-2. Executive Assistant, Office of the Deputy Director, FR-301-2. Assistant Director Office of Compliance, FR-301-1. Press Officer, FR-301-3.

VOLUNTEERS-IN-SERVICE TO AMERICA

Mr. CONTE. The budget calls for a $11.745 million increase in fiscal year 1979 for VISTA essentially because this program has proved successful. What criteria are you using to measure VISTA's success? What inputs are you depending upon in making your evaluation?

Mr. BROWN. VISTA's success is best measured when applying the accomplishments of the program to its congressional mandate to strengthen and supplement efforts to eliminate poverty and poverty-related problems. The primary criteria used to evaluate the program include the number of people that volunteers work with directly, the value of resources mobilized by VISTAS, and the demand for VISTA Volunteers at all levels throughout the nation.

Recent evaluations have shown that the average of 4,560 VISTA Volunteers presently serving serve approximately 1,150,000 of the Nation's poor. Their efforts have resulted in bringing a project average of over $67,000 in money and program services to benefit poor people. Volunteers recruited on the average over 14 nonACTION volunteers to work on their project. VISTA can, at this moment, place 50 percent more volunteers in approved positions on existing projects. There are many requests to place VISTAS for each one that is accepted.

În evaluating the program VISTA receives information from independent evaluations, evaluation contracted to groups outside the Agency, and a comprehensive inhouse VISTA study.

Mr. CONTE. You mentioned that volunteers will service primarily in 7 areas of need (health/nutrition, community service, knowledge and skills, energy and conservation, housing, economic development and income, and legal rights), how will VISTA coordinate with other Federal and local public agencies engaged in similar activities?

Mr. BROWN. VISTA can have the most impact on ameliorating conditions of poverty by making it possible for poor people to come together so that they can influence the kinds of decisions that affect their lives. VISTA Volunteers work to help people decide on their needs, determine how and from where these needs can be met, then develop techniques for accomplishment.

Federal, local public and private agencies play a vital part in this philosophy as they provide much of the average $67,000 per project in resources mobilized by VISTA Volunteers. Drawing on these resources VISTAS are able to provide the necessary human element to make these programs reach the people they are intended to benefit.

A recent example of VISTA cooperative efforts with other Federal agencies is in the development of proposals for a VISTA Summer Volunteer Program.

Letters of cooperation have already been exchanged with the Department of Agriculture pertaining to the proposed Food Corps. Under this program which is to focus on public education regarding new Food Stamp regulations, VISTA will pay volunteer training costs, support costs, partial transportation and partial supervi

sory costs. The Department of Agriculture would provide the majority of costs for volunteer transportation and supervisory costs as well as the program funds for the services or materials to be delivered by the volunteers. Similar agreements have been_reached with HEW for the proposed Immunization Initiative Program and for the Energy Corps, where short-term volunteers would use Community Services Administration provided materials to winterize dwellings of the poor.

Mr. CONTE. The fiscal year 1979 Budget for training and technical assistance is $2.388 million. What changes are you making in training Volunteers to make their training period more purposeful?

Mr. BROWN. VISTA will provide volunteers with two different types of training: generic and project specific.

Generic training will be received by all volunteers regardless of placement. It will be delivered in 2 parts: preservice orientation and skill training.

Pre-service orientation will last 4 days. It has as its purpose: (a) Informing volunteers of the terms and conditions of their service including the completion of all necessary ACTION forms.

(b) Providing them with community entry skills including the ability to analyze the communities in which they are placed so as to identify the possible barriers which might impede the progress of their specific VISTA projects.

(c) Teaching them how to assist their personal skill training and/or resource information needs so that they will be able to take full advantage of other ACTION training which will become available.

(d) Introducing them to their project supervisors so that they can learn about what they will find and what will be expected of them when they reach their project site.

No less than 30 nor more than 90 days after preservice orientation, volunteers will receive 8 days of intensive skill training. The skills to be developed are those which will be of use no matter what the volunteer placement entails. Among those skills are: The ability to develop a plan in order to accomplish a goal; the ability to identify and develop local leadership potential; the ability to raise funds through community fund raising projects; the ability to organize a group of people in order to identify and/or find solutions to community problems; the ability to plan and run a meeting; and the ability to write a fact sheet, pamphlet, etc.

In addition to the generic training which all volunteers will receive in order to fulfill their roles as VISTA Volunteers, each volunteer will be entitled to receive project specific or in-service training on an as needed basis. In-service training will be technical assistance training, in the main, and will provide the volunteer with information necessary to the completion of his/her specific project tasks.

For example, while all volunteers should know how to develop local leadership potential, only volunteers working on establishing day care centers in the State of California need know the rules and regulations governing, and how to go about establishing, a day care center in that state. In-service training has as its purpose providing that information and additional skills to those particular volunteers. VISTA intends to contract for the development and delivery of generic training. The Request for Proposal (RFP) will state the specific training objectives to be attained by each volunteer as a result of his/her participation. In addition, the RFP will evaluate institutions submitting proposals on their experience in providing like training to citizen participation organization membership and staff so as to assure that the generic training our volunteers receive is consistent with the perceptions of the organizations we wish to support through VISTA.

In-service training will be provided in-house with the use of consultants as needed. ACTION staff is best suited to arrange and coordinate training to fulfill volunteer training requests on an as needed basis because of their on-going involvement with the volunteers and sponsors.

Mr. CONTE. In fiscal year 1978 there were about 4,560 volunteers at any one time. The fiscal year 1979 proposed budget will support 5,725 volunteers. Will this level of volunteers allow all those who are competent to serve to serve? What is the average cost per VISTA Volunteer? What percentage of the community demand for VISTA will you meet with the fiscal year 1979 proposed budget?

Mr. BROWN. The fiscal year 1979 total of 5,725 VISTA Volunteers falls far short of tapping the total resources of this country for people willing to serve for one year in anti-poverty programs at subsistence support levels. It is, however, nearly impossible to gauge the number of people both competent and willing to serve in VISTA programs where volunteers serve full-time without regard to hours, live in communities in which they serve, are supported at a mere subsistence level, and may not have outside income. Even so, VISTA has had as many as 25,000 applications for service in a year. In fiscal year 1977, 6,057 persons applied for 2,019 spaces as nationally recruited trainees. (An additional 2,588 trainees were recruited by spon

soring organizations and the number applying for these positions is unknown.) We are confident that dedicated and competent persons will be found in sufficient numbers to fill all 7,420 training positions that are projected.

The average cost per VISTA Volunteer as of January 1, 1978 is $5,866. This total includes training, technical assistance, volunteer personal support costs and contributions to the sponsor costs of supervision and on-job-transportation support for Volunteers.

The Community Services Administration currently places 25,000,000 Americans below the poverty threshold. Under the proposed fiscal year 1979 budget, and average of 5,725 VISTA Volunteers will reach an estimated 1,750,000-2,000,000 people through their primary activities. We estimate that at least seven times the fiscal year 1979 requested level of VISTA Volunteers could be usefully employed in service to our fellow citizens who live in poverty.

Mr. CONTE. Many volunteers will serve in grassroots organizations (organizations controlled and operated by those served). Would grassroot organizations differ from community organizations? Why have you decided to place increasingly more volunteers in grassroot organizations?

Mr. LEWIS. Grassroots organizations can be distinguished as those community and neighborhood based organizations that are controlled and operated by poor people served by the project.

VISTA evaluation data suggests that citizen participation is positively related to desire program outcome. Successful citizen participation will result in the increased access of low-income people to decision making through the cooperative efforts with established public and private institutions, or through the creation of new mechanisms for the participation of low-income people in their communities' decision making process. The effort is to improve conditions for the poor through the more effective deployment of public and private resources designed to relieve poverty. Mr. CONTE. You've implied that volunteers will either serve the poor or advocate on their behalf. What types of advocacy roles are you thinking about for volunteers? In many instances won't this advocacy constitute lobbying?

Ms. TABANKIN. The new direction of VISTA has as its purpose assisting the poor to break the bonds of dependency by working with their neighbors to find solutions to the problems with which they are faced. Our new policies reflect a firm belief in the democratic processes upon which our system of government is based and the willingness of people to help each other and themselves. It is also based on the belief that the problems of poverty will be ameliorated when, and only when, communities become self-sufficient and need to rely less and less on government to find solutions.

The programs we have funded in fiscal year 1977 and will fund in fiscal year 1978 and fiscal year 1979 demonstrate what we would have VISTA be. The problems our volunteers are working on relate to issues such as neighborhood revitalization and economic self-sufficiency for the poor. We are helping support neighborhood groups interested in improving needed services through community development corporations and stopping neighborhood deterioration. We are also supporting the development of agricultural cooperatives amongst poor farmers and the development of credit unions in rural and urban areas.

Volunteers are prohibited by agency policy from acting as lobbyists. Our volunteers perform a broad range of community services. For instance, they may act as fundraisers, neighborhood organizers, and nurses. Their major task is to obviate the need for VISTA resources over time by identifying and working to develop the leadership potential which exists in every community and by transferring information and skills which will help lead to a solution of community problems.

Mr. CONTE. VISTA Volunteers receive up to a $75 monthly stipend as specified in the law. Do you feel this stipend should be indexed to cost-of-living increases? If yes, what would this cost be in fiscal year 1979? Wouldn't indexing eliminate the need of seeking supplemental funding as sought for fiscal year 1978?

MS. TABANKIN. The $75 per month stipend, paid to VISTA Volunteers as a readjustment allowance when they leave their service is written into Section 105(a) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act. Therefore, any indexing would require a change in the authorization. We are asking that the Congress appropriate funds for the balance of fiscal year 1978, as well as for fiscal year 1979, to pay VISTAS the increase in stipend that has been authorized from the present stipend level of $50 per month.

The Administration has not requested that the stipend be indexed to cost of living increases. VISTA Volunteers receive two basic allowances as subsistance support during their year of service: the living allowance of $75 per month to pay for incidental expenses and the food and lodging allowance which ranges from $180 to $240 per month and averages $220 per month across the country. The latter

allowance has, for the past three years, been increased commensurate with increases in the Consumer Price Index.

Mr. CONTE. There is $3,194 million proposed for 4 new programs under VISTA (Summer Intern Service, Community Development, VISTA/Peace Corps Program, and Northern Mariana Islands Program. The Summer Intern Program which calls for Short-Term service will be part of a proposed legislative package to be submitted for fiscal year 1979). What experience has ACTION had in administering each of these programs? If none, why don't you implement this program on a demonstration basis before making it part of VISTA?

Mr. BROWN. VISTA and other ACTION programs have ample experience and the necessary capabilities to implement the four new programs proposed in the fiscal year 1979 budget.

VISTA has, in past years, administered short-terms programs utilizing up to 3,000 volunteers in a summer. Although these programs were considered successful, budget and staff reductions forced them to be phased out in order that the full term programs could continue. The value and the need for this type of program remains, however.

Although our budget proposed that the Summer Intern Service be carried out under the VISTA authority under Part A, Title I of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, ACTION will not now request a change in the VISTA authority to provide for short-term VISTA programs. The Summer Intern Program must therefore be funded through the Special Volunteer Programs authority under Part C, Title I of the Act, which contains authority for the use of short-term volunteers. The funds requested for short-term volunteers in our budget presentation should be transferred to Part C of Title I. The program would be administered by VISTA and executed in conjunction with regular VISTA projects where appropriate. It will, however, be neessary to make the Special Volunteer Program authority more flexible to permit the most efficient and judicious use of short-term volunteers. At present, programs using short-term volunteers must be of at least one year's duration. ACTION will also request an amendment to Section 415 of the Act so that short-term volunteers can receive coverage under the Federal Employees Compensation Act and the Federal Tort Claims Act.

VISTA intends to model the Community Development Program, for example, after the individual successes of many of its volunteers where they have, because of particular training or special project need, assured the success of a community development project. Under this program, VISTA proposes to train volunteers of proven ability. They will be assigned to struggling grassroots organizations, to towns whose populations are poor and cannot support expensive staff, or in other situations where low-income people are concentrated but underserved. They will know of a wide array of funds, services or programs that are available and how to get them together with those in greatest need. Working with the people who will decide on their own priorities, the volunteers will provide the expert advice to assure that the assistance is received and will continue on to guarantee that once received, the assistance is used to the best effect.

Because of its demonstrated domestic and international capabilities, ACTION has had a wealth of experience working with poor people at home and with developing nations abroad. It is hoped that through the application and coordination of these two proven service mechanisms even more can be gleaned from this experience and applied so as to benefit the recipients of Peace Corps/VISTA program.

Similarly, in the Northern Mariana Islands, we intend to combine the very best of Peace Corps' developmental and training capacity and the proven ability of VISTA Volunteers to work toward self-betterment of low-income people through encouragement of grassroots groups as sponsoring organizations.

STATE COORDINATORS

Mr. CONTE. How effective are the 25 State Volunteer Coordinator Programs in expanding and encouraging volunteerism within the private and non-federal public sectors?

Mr. BROWN. The State Volunteer Coordinator Programs (Statewide) have been very effective. Statewide has encouraged private and non-federal volunteer programs. The majority of States have Statewide volunteer Conferences, whose participants are made up predominantly of private and non-federal volunteer groups. With the financial assistance of ACTION's Statewide grants, the State Offices of Volunteerism are able to:

a. Direct technical assistance to local volunteer groups including Community Action Programs, youth groups, senior citizens organizations, and churches.