There is something striking – and sobering – about celebrating Peace Corps Week while, just this past Friday night, President Trump launched a war with Iran. On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged Americans to give something of themselves to the world. Sixty-five years later, the agency has relaunched its iconic slogan – “Still the Toughest Job You'll Ever Love.”
We live in a time of deep division. Yet here is an institution that has always drawn strength from diversity. Peace Corps volunteers come from every state, background, walk of life and political point of view. Like the armed forces, the Peace Corps is a melting pot of Americans – and our differences are the point.
I know this firsthand. At 23, I stepped off a plane in Mali, West Africa into a wall of Sahelian heat – one of 42 volunteers, only 26 of whom finished. I became part of a Malian family, learned Bambara with two dictionaries in hand, and navigated new food, traditions, climate and illness. The Peace Corps calls it the Third Goal: promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. I came home with far more than I gave.
USAID is shuttered. Foreign aid budgets are slashed. Diplomats are sidelined. And now the United States is at war again. The costs – in lives lost, trust broken and anti-American sentiment sown – will echo for generations. American strength is defined not only by the wars we fight, but by the friendships we build.
In that context, the Peace Corps' goal of doubling volunteers by 2030 is not just surprising – it is essential. If traditional tools of diplomacy are weakened, citizen diplomacy becomes even more critical. Sending more Americans abroad to live, learn local languages, share skills and build relationships may be one of the most constructive investments we can make in long-term global stability.
H.R. 5521, the bipartisan Peace Corps Volunteers Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2025, would honor the nearly 250,000 Americans who chose that path. Rep. Jeff Hurd should co-sponsor it.
And here at home, Gov. Polis should formally proclaim Peace Corps Week in Colorado, as governors in New Mexico and beyond have done.
Sixty-five years later, it remains the toughest job you'll ever love. And in this moment, it may be more needed than ever.
