Kinder-Resilient
The Tongan village of Tu’anuku childhood education this past February, celebrating the soft opening of a brand-new climate-resilient kindergarten facility. This milestone marks the culmination of an international collaborative effort spear-headed by Friends of Tonga (FoT), a National Peace Corps Association–affiliated nonprofit organization based in Laurel, Maryland. Founded and operated by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, FoT remains dedicated to sustaining the spirit of service long after its members’ initial tenure in the Kingdom of Tonga. FoT built their first climate-resilient kindergarten in Ta’anga, ‘Eua, in 2021, in direct response to the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Gita. Rather than just...
The Idea That Wouldn’t Die
Let’s face it: Peace Corps has seen better days. In the past year, six programs have announced closures or canceled cohorts, including South Africa, Mozambique, and Ethiopia—a host country since 1962—and dozens of staff positions have been cut both at headquarters and abroad. The agency, once firmly independent, has seen the State Department and Congress pledge closer oversight. Recruitment is down, with more than half (55 percent) of available Volunteer placements going unfilled, compared with just 6 percent in 2019. But before we declare the end of JFK’s bold experiment, consider another truth in this 65-year story: Peace Corps has...
Take Action: Oppose House Amendment to Defund the Peace Corps
As the House of Representatives prepares to consider H.R. 8595, the FY27 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs (NSRP) appropriations bill, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has filed Amendment #137, which would eliminate the Peace Corps' entire $410.5 million appropriation. The House Rules Committee has advanced the bill and amendment for House floor consideration, expected Thursday, June 25th. Contact your Representatives today and ask them to oppose any effort to eliminate funding for the Peace Corps. Congress could make a decision on Peace Corps funding within days. Help us pass 5,000 letters sent by Thursday. Click here to take...
The Advocate
When I graduated from college, I briefly considered joining Peace Corps. After some reflection, my decision was clear: “Spend two years living remotely in a foreign country? Absolutely not!” I could never have imagined that seven years later I would be on a tiny island in the Federated States of Micronesia starting service. Similarly, in 2003, when I was hired to help rebuild the advocacy program at the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA), it would have been hard for me to foresee that I’d close out my career running NPCA’s advocacy efforts more than twenty years later, in 2026, having...
Representatives in the House Show Bipartisan Support for Funding of the Peace Corps
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 16, 2026 Media Contact: Joe Shaffner, Vice President National Peace Corps Association, jshaffner@peacecorpsconnect.org Washington, DC – Last week, members of the House of Representatives rushed to meet a one week deadline of March 11 to sign on to a letter calling for a Fiscal Year 2027 (FY 27) funding increase for the Peace Corps. Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) and Delegate Amata Radewagen (R-American Samoa) co-authored the letter addressed to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs — calling for $479 million to be set aside...
“Bigger Than Peace Corps”
California Service Corps is the largest state-based service program in the United States, and the program is on track to place more than 10,000 volunteers across the state in 2025. Indeed, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom proudly calls the program “bigger than the Peace Corps,” a comparison Josh Fryday, chief service officer of California Service Corps, says stems from the inspiration Peace Corps provides as the “gold standard” of American service opportunities. WorldView’s Robert Nolan recently spoke with Fryday about the program, how it might be replicated in other states, and what federal funding cuts to AmeriCorps, which makes up part...
Garden of Refuge
As part of our commitment to continued service, the Seattle Peace Corps Association (SEAPAX) is partnering with World Relief Western Washington to support a refugee community garden. For the last five years, teams of SEAPAX Volunteers have worked in the garden, clearing weeds in the spring to ready the beds for the planting season and planting cover crops in the fall to prepare them for winter. At the suggestion of refugee and immigrant community members concerned about the lack of access to healthy food, World Relief Resiliency Program created an urban garden in Kent, Washington, in 2017. In transforming a...
Plains to the Pacific
We are in uncharted public policy territory. Our nation’s foreign assistance infrastructure has been gutted with the elimination of USAID, the dismantling of entities such as the U.S. Institute of Peace and Voice of America, and cuts to the Department of State budget, which are likely to be implemented in 2026. President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal to Congress also includes the elimination of AmeriCorps, the premier federal program supporting national service. It is not a good time to be in the business of promoting international peace and development, or even service here at home. Comparatively, Peace Corps is...
Americans Need to Know
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, his administration has slashed the work of many U.S. government agencies, including those focused on foreign policy. Now, there is concern that the Peace Corps could join the other foreign aid programs the administration is trying to dismantle. The United States Agency for International Development largely shut down in February and March 2025, with its workforce reduced from more than 10,000 to 15 people on staff. In early April 2025, members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency showed up at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., signaling...
Not Just the “Guys in Washington”
Over the years, when I have pitched the importance of participating in NPCA’s advocacy program, I have often said to our community that members of Congress and their staff on Capitol Hill “aren’t really interested in hearing what the ‘guy in Washington’ has to say... They want to hear from their constituents.” While that statement is not fully accurate, it is critical that when NPCA is making the case for Peace Corps funding or a piece of legislation, it is understood that we are representing RPCVs back in their states or congressional districts. The reverse is also true, to a...