Peace Corps Week
February 28 - March 6, 2021
Theme: 60 Years of Service
Peace Corps Through the Decades: Photos and timeline
Sixty years after its founding, the Peace Corps’ mission to promote world peace and friendship remains more relevant than ever. The Peace Corps, at its core, is about celebrating diversity around the world, building relationships and opportunity, and fostering equity and inclusion.
Since 1961, more than 241,000 Americans have served our country and the global community as Peace Corps Volunteers, living and working alongside local leaders to catalyze change. After Volunteers complete their service, they return to the United States with new sets of skills, deep knowledge of other cultures and global issues, and long-lasting relationships with people from their host countries.
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) continue their service by promoting awareness of other cultures and global issues with friends, family, and the American public; maintaining relationships with colleagues and friends from the countries where they served; and sustaining their commitment to volunteerism and public service.
This Peace Corps Week, we invite the world to celebrate six decades of the Peace Corps, and we call upon RPCVs to reaffirm their commitment to service, to building bridges between individuals of all backgrounds, and to inspiring a new generation of global citizens.
We also invite returned Peace Corps Volunteers - and those who know them - to tell the story of how RPCVs usher in innovative solutions to collective problems in their communities at home in the United States. See below for ways you can join the celebrations and share your stories of service.
Press release: The Peace Corps Celebrates 60th Anniversary
Attend an event
- March 1, 1:00-2:00 PM EST
60 Years of Service: The Multigenerational Impact of Peace Corps - March 1, 5:00-6:00 PM EST
60 Years Of Service: Peace Corps Through the Ages - March 3, 12:00-1:00 PM EST
60 Years of Service: Careers in Service Panel - March 3, 7:30-8:30 PM EST
60 Years of Service: The Legacy of JFK Story Slam - March 4, 4:00-5:00 PM EST
60 Years of Service: RPCVs Impact on the Fields of Philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility - March 4, 7:00-8:00 PM EST
The Peace Corps at 60 and Beyond: A Towering Task Screening & Discussion
Smithsonian Folklife Festival - March 5, 5:00-6:00 PM EST
60 Years of Service: Peace Corps through the Decades Story Slam
See all Peace Corps Week events
Make it social
Create the leaders of tomorrow
Explore stories of service
- Returned Volunteers leverage Peace Corps service to improve communities at home
- First-Gen Q&A: From Howard to Peace Corps
- World Wise Schools fosters 30 years of connection
- Arc of Service: A Photo Essay of Service in the 1990s
- My father, John Young, is the primary reason why I decided to join the Peace Corps