With the stroke of a pen on March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps. Sixty-five years later, that simple executive order continues to echo across the globe – and here at home in Colorado.
Peace Corps Week, celebrated this week, is more than a commemoration of history. It is a reminder of what Kennedy called the “logic of Peace Corps” – that someday we would bring it home to America. In Colorado, we have done exactly that.
Colorado is not just participating in the Peace Corps legacy – we are helping lead it. According to the National Peace Corps Association’s Colorado summary, 7,880 Coloradans have served since 1961. Today, more than 100 Colorado citizens are serving abroad, ranking our state ninth in the nation for current volunteers. Historically, Colorado ranks 11th overall in sending volunteers overseas.
That is no small achievement for a state our size.
Our universities are part of this pipeline of service. The University of Colorado Boulder ranks fourth all-time among institutions sending Peace Corps volunteers, and seven Colorado colleges and universities maintain formal partnerships with the agency. In 2023, the Colorado Legislature enacted in-state tuition benefits for returned volunteers pursuing graduate studies – a recognition that service abroad builds leadership, adaptability and cross-cultural competence that strengthen communities back home.
The Peace Corps calls this its “Third Goal”: promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. But there is also a “domestic dividend.” Returned volunteers do not simply come home; they reinvest what they’ve learned.
In Denver, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers planted and harvested an RPCV Garden at Civic Center Park last year, donating produce to local food banks. They maintain an adopt-a-highway site in Poudre Canyon and volunteer at the Colorado Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center. Across the state – and here in Southwest Colorado – returned volunteers serve as teachers, nurses, nonprofit leaders and small-business owners.
I know firsthand how transformative that service can be. At 23, I stepped off a plane in Mali, West Africa, into a wall of Sahelian heat and two years of challenge. I learned Bambara with two dictionaries in hand. I learned patience, humility and how much can be accomplished through listening. Like so many volunteers, I returned home with more than I gave.
This year, as the Peace Corps marks its 65th anniversary, it has launched a new recruitment campaign: “Still the Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love.” The agency has set a goal of reaching 8,000 volunteers in service by 2030 – more than double the number serving today.
It is striking timing. As the United States once again turns to military force abroad, Congress is considering legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Peace Corps volunteers. Both service members and volunteers represent forms of national service, projecting American strength in different ways. One defends security through force; the other advances peace through partnership. In moments of conflict, it is worth remembering that American leadership is defined not only by the wars we fight, but also by the friendships we build.
I encourage Rep. Jeff Hurd to support the bipartisan Peace Corps Volunteers Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2025. And here at home, I encourage Gov. Jared Polis to formally proclaim Peace Corps Week in Colorado, as other states have done. Such a proclamation would recognize the nearly 8,000 Coloradans who have served, the more than 100 currently in the field, and the thousands of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who continue to strengthen our communities.
Peace Corps Park is rising in Washington, D.C., a permanent monument to service and global friendship. But Colorado does not need a monument to prove its commitment. We live it.
From Durango to Denver, from campus classrooms to community gardens, Colorado remains a pipeline of volunteers – citizens willing to step forward, step abroad and then step back home changed.
Sixty-five years later, it is still the toughest job you’ll ever love.
And Colorado is answering the call.
