Leading (and Leaving) with Radical Empathy

Outgoing NPCA president and CEO Dan Baker says farewell.

When I accepted the opportunity (and privilege) to lead the National Peace Corps Association as president and CEO three years ago, I felt the same mixture of excitement and responsibility that I did when stepping off the plane for my Peace Corps service in Bolivia in 1999. Both experiences came with an unspoken promise—to listen deeply, to build bridges across differences, and to do my part to keep faith with the belief that people of goodwill working together can change the world. 

While I knew our community would face some challenging times when I took on this role, it would have been hard back then to imagine just how much we would endure. The COVID-19 pandemic saw the evacuation and return home of all Peace Corps Volunteers from the field for the first time in the agency’s history. America faced financial headwinds, reckonings over race and equity, and global unrest. And in the last year alone, we have witnessed the intentional dismantling of America’s soft power arsenal, the introduction of xenophobic propaganda and policies around immigration and foreign affairs, and the near-total entrenchment of “left vs. right” thinking across our land on practically any subject.  

Yet through it all, Peace Corps has remained fundamentally intact.  

It’s true. The agency is funded. Volunteers remain in the field. RPCVs return home, and new ones prepare to depart.   

Taken alongside the skyrocketing level of engagement we’ve seen within the RPCV community around our campaigns Protect the Peace Corps and Stand Up for Service, it’s safe to say we’re not only surviving the current moment, but thriving in it.  

You turned out in the thousands for our town halls, put pen to paper in letters to your elected officials, and mobilized to demonstrate firsthand the benefits Peace Corps Volunteers bring home to our communities after service—the so-called Domestic Dividend. 

You mentored evacuated Volunteers. You worked emergency response lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and raised funds for natural disasters. You advocated for Peace Corps funding and reform. You rebuilt affiliate groups and lifted each other up. You reminded the nation—and one another—that service doesn’t end when your assignment does. 

Nowhere was this more obvious than at Peace Corps Connect 2025, where our community came together to reimagine national service, and, by extension, on Peace Corps Connect+, the new digital home for the Peace Corps community. 

The progress we’ve made could only have happened with the support of a dedicated staff, board of directors, and donors who care deeply about our mission. To them, and especially to incoming president and CEO Carla Brown, I extend my heartfelt appreciation.  

Of course, our work is far from over. If we hope to protect the gains we’ve made in recent years and to protect the future of Peace Corps, we must do three things.  

First, let’s remember a universal Peace Corps truth: that fellowship is the soil in which peace and progress grow. Our community is small but mighty, a coalition of RPCVs committed to fostering international peace and friendship through many groups, associations, and efforts. The gravity of the moment demands that we stand in solidarity as a community of returned Volunteers working together to ensure future generations of Americans can experience Peace Corps service.

Outgoing NPCA President Dan Baker shares a word (and a copy of WorldView) with former Rep. Joe Kennedy (Dominican Republic 2004–06).

Next, we must remember that empathy is not weakness—it is strength. The kind of empathy we learned in service was never passive. It required us to live among others, to understand before judging, and to work side by side toward common goals. I am often reminded of the flag my RPCV spouse hangs each year in her middle school classroom, and the message it conveys to her seventh graders: “Practice Radical Empathy.” As Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, we have a special commitment to bring empathy—radical empathy—into a national dialogue that could sure use some good old-fashioned civility.  

Lastly, I encourage us all to feel empowered as individuals to create small changes in a world with big problems. I ask every member of this community to identify one achievable goal—a bridge to mend, a neighbor to help, a local challenge to solve—find a counterpart to work with, and pursue that goal with the same intentionality you brought to your Peace Corps host community. When we connect small acts like these together, they form the kind of collective action that changes hearts and societies alike.

Our world still needs the Peace Corps spirit and the people who embody it: people who believe in the power of dialogue over division, hope over cynicism, and unity over fear. Let us be those people. Let us continue to lead—not just with our résumés or our rhetoric—but with radical empathy, the most powerful skill Peace Corps ever taught us. 

Thank you for allowing me the honor of serving you. 

In peace and fellowship,
Dan Baker
President & CEO, National Peace Corps Association