A Backpack and a Blog
With the world in political turmoil and questions swirling about the Peace Corps’ future, I decided to embark this past fall on an epic journey to see firsthand what Peace Corps is doing around the globe. It’s been decades since I served Honduras, and I wanted to understand what service looks like today. With my 15-pound backpack in tow, I set out to circle the world and reconnect with the essence of Peace Corps, which I shared on a blog with friends and family. Here are some excerpts from what I found; a Peace Corps that’s still getting the job...
Made in America
Charlie Clifford (Peru 1967–69) is the founder of Tumi Inc., a global travel luggage brand, as well as Roam Luggage. He spoke with WorldView editor Robert Nolan about how Peace Corps helps develop entrepreneurial skills and gives RPCVs the tools and confidence to start their own business ventures. RN: What skills did you learn in Peace Corps that helped you when you embarked on a business career upon your return? CC: I think it takes a certain amount of entrepreneurial DNA to be interested in something like the Peace Corps. Once you’re assigned to a particular location, everything you’ve spent...
“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...
Signal Boost
The digital world is awash in voices seeking monetary reward or improved social status, as the online acronym goes, IRL (in real life). There are, however, some that have dedicated their time, effort, and social media platforms to those who are in most need of the spotlight. Not surprisingly, these voices include several Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. In many ways, social media has transformed how the Peace Corps’ third goal—to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans—is achieved. Storytelling by Volunteers is at the heart of this goal; now, that storytelling is done with...
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...
Show Up, Stand Up
Dear Peace Corps Community, This issue of WorldView arrives at a worrisome time. As I write, Peace Corps and the values it promotes are under threat like never before, with Peace Corps just the latest government agency to suffer substantial cuts at the behest of the current administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. So far, this has resulted in a roughly 40% reduction in Peace Corps staff at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and up to a 25% reduction in local staff at some Peace Corps country offices, which is especially troubling. These cuts are currently underway. The...
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...
You GLOW Girl
Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is a transformative initiative launched by Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) that has empowered tens of thousands of girls and young women worldwide through self-confidence and leadership development programs, promoting gender equality and fostering community building across 60 countries since its inception in Romania in 1995. One of Peace Corps’ most widespread gender empowerment initiatives is Camp GLOW, which has provided the opportunity for tens of thousands of girls and young women to attend programming that develops self-confidence, leadership skills, goalsetting, gender equality, and more. Camp GLOW has been hosted in 60 different countries by...
When Small Things Make Great Things Possible
Editor's Note: “It is way past time for the Peace Corps to tell the story of some of its numerous great achievements. How do we make that happen?” This question was posed by William “Bill” Josephson, a longtime collaborator with Sargent Shriver and who contributed directly to the design and scope of the Peace Corps. In 2023, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer John Chromy (India 1963-65) decided to take Josephson up on his challenge. To do so, he selected 10 illustrative stories that demonstrate the profound impact Peace Corps has had on communities around the world. The result is the collection...
Domestic Dividend: Part III
From its Cold War–era founding, Peace Corps has always carried national security implications. When President John F. Kennedy created the agency through an executive order in 1961, he directed its initial funding to come from the Mutual Security Act of 1954, a post–World War II law that provided economic and military assistance to developing nations. Peace Corps was formalized into law a few months later, and now more than 240,000 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in over 60 countries as a key pillar of United States national security. “U.S. national security has historically rested on a three-legged stool: defense, diplomacy...