Peace Corps hopes to increase diversity with community college graduates
Peace Corps hopes to increase diversity
43-year-old service organization will try to add community college graduates among volunteers
Associated Press
DAYTON - Citing a need for more diversity among its volunteers, the Peace Corps will try to attract graduates of two-year community colleges.
In its 43-year history, the Peace Corps mostly accepted applicants with bachelor's degrees.
Ninety-eight percent of current volunteers have a bachelor's or master's degree.
``The Peace Corps has always accepted qualified candidates whether they were a community college graduate or not. The only change is that the Peace Corps is now doing a more proactive, more public recruitment campaign at the community college level,'' spokeswoman Barbara Daly said.
The Peace Corps has nearly 7,000 volunteers in about 70 countries, where they serve two years, three months.
John S. Hale, former Peace Corps acting inspector general, said the recruitment drive raises questions about problems that have troubled the agency before.
``Has the agency prepared effective, safe assignments with proper training and support?'' he said. ``Will the Peace Corps rise to a new level of maturity and accountability in how it sends these new community college recruits into often difficult and unhealthy environments where good intentions are not enough?''
An April report by the Peace Corps inspector general revealed ``significant weaknesses'' in the group's recruitment efforts. The Peace Corps had been producing the same number of volunteers for the past 30 years.
An examination found that many volunteers have little or no experience traveling outside the United States, minimum language skills and virtually no background in their assigned jobs. Volunteers live alone in dangerous remote areas and are left unsupervised for months.
Norma Kent, spokeswoman for the American Association of Community Colleges, said she has been working closely with the Peace Corps on its campaign.
``I think they're intent on a number of things,'' Kent said. ``One is they want to be more diverse. Two, they want to supply educated individuals in key areas where they know community colleges can provide those individuals. And, thirdly, they're probably looking for additional recruits.''
