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An in-depth analysis of the United States
Peace Corps, its history, growth, and
benefits.
Peace Corps
Chris Hallager
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Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is United States Federal Government agency that dedicates its volunteerism to
changing lives worldwide for an estimated two years. Through services that focus on agriculture,
environment, community economic development, health, education, and youth in development, Peace
Corps volunteers can leave their footprint on the lives of everyone they touch. The Peace Corps allows it
trained volunteers to perform humanitarian acts to help other countries meet their need for trained
personnel (Peace Corps, 1). Simply put, Peace Corps participants are changemakers who are committed
to impacting communities abroad with a positive purpose.
History of Peace Corps
Founded on October 14, 1960 at 2:00 am on the campus of the University of Michigan, the
Peace Corps was brought about by former president John F. Kennedy. Kennedy made a call to the
university’s 10,000 students who had the desire to serve their country and be the cause of peace
through service and developing the world. Following his appearance on the university’s campus,
Kennedy signed an executive order that created the Peace Corps on March 1, 1961, and has since
incorporated over 200,000 service members in counting. Although it started by sending its volunteers to
only 15 countries worldwide, the Peace Corps now has spread to 150 countries, and now has a
headquarters located at 1111 20th Street, NW Washington, D.C. Through its expansion, the Peace Corps
has achieved its mission to promote world peace and friendship by fulfilling three goals: to help people
of interested countries in meeting their need for trained women and men; to help promote better
understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; and, to help promote a better
understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
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Volunteers
Someone who would like to join the Peace Corps may not know exactly where to start. This is
common among volunteers. There are multiple ways that the Peace Corps molds each volunteer to
develop to perform while getting the most out of the experience. To do this, the Peace Corps focuses on
a core value called, “capacity building”. Capacity building is, “helping people develop the capacity to
improve their own lives” (Roles in Volunteer Development, 15). Essentially, capacity building focuses on
the development of people instead of things. This is a focus in each branch of the Peace Corps, which
creates the best results. Capacity building needs to happen on multiple levels for the Peace Corps to
fulfill its mission. From volunteers, to program organizations, to community leaders, this level of building
must be sustainable culturally, environmentally, politically, economically, and managerially. There are
many frameworks to achieve this sustainability, but it is crucial to choose the correct method of
