The Peace Corps in the DR will honor Ramon Guerrero of Peravia province in the DR for his leadership. Guerrero is the winner of the US$2,000 annual Leadership Prize granted by the Andres S. Hernandez Foundation. The Leadership Prize will be awarded at a reception to be held at the U.S. Peace Corps Offices in Santo Domingo on February 3, 2001. Guerrero has been instrumental in organizing 5-D Clubs (the Dominican equivalent of 4-H clubs in the US) for over 40 years. He sees these clubs as a practical way of disseminating modern agricultural methods as well as a community-based instrument for community development. Guerrero led the first Rural School Construction project using adobe as the chief building material. Over the years he has championed this material and taught its use as a practical material for low cost constructions in a tropical locale. Currently, Guerrero is studying and practicing organic farming. He seeks to maximize quality of foods so produced while seeking to minimize production costs. The Andres S. Hernandez Foundation, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation which uses tax-deductible contributions to fund the annual Leadership Prize. The prize seeks to reinforce the importance of local, grassroots leadership for improving local conditions and for promoting democratic, community development guided by local concerns and needs. Former Peace Corps Volunteers who served under Andres Hernandez established the Foundation. Hernandez, the original Peace Corps Director in the Dominican Republic established the first successful Peace Corps Mission in Latin America. For his work in promoting individual initiative and socially positive leadership in helping people help themselves, President Hipolito Mejia, has awarded Andres S. Hernandez the Duarte-Sanchez-Mella Medal, the highest honor that the Dominican Government can bestow. By recognizing Hernandez and his successful establishment of the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, President Mejia celebrates the 40 years of successful Peace Corps service and collaboration with the Dominican people.
