Peace Corps or AmeriCorps? That is the question

While many types of people go into both corps, the most common question for the do-gooder, soon-to-be college grad is which corps?

It’s a hard question to answer: the two-year versus one year commitment, service abroad or service on the home front, weighing the prestige of each program–which would be the better-fit? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers, especially with the lack of online, literary and people resources to determine that answer.

And here’s where I hope to be of some help. I haven’t heard of anyone who’s done this yet, although I’m sure I’m not the first, but I’m in a unique position of having experienced what it is to be both a Peace Corps and AmeriCorps volunteer.

Swearing-in ceremony for Community Health & Economic Development (CHED) Class of '07 in Lesotho.

Rewind: I’ve kept an eye out for Peace Corps since high school and planned on it throughout my entire college career. In May 2007, I was invited to serve in Lesotho and found myself shipping off to Africa only a month later. My service lasted for about eight months before I returned for a combination of personal and health reasons. In March 2008 I began the interviewing process with Portland Community Media. After a two-month trial, I was offered a different position than what I had applied for and was given only a few hours to make a decision on becoming PCM’s New Media Vista. I started in mid-July with PCM under the auspices of the Community Technology Centers (CTC) Vista Project.

As soon as it came to light during the CTC Project’s Pre-Service Orientation in Boston that I was an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer), various CTC Vistas came up to me asking what it was like, sharing that they had considered doing Peace Corps instead. At first all the people and their questions were overwhelming, but I came to understand that lots of people wonder what the differences are between the two as they begin making up their minds.

I hope this blog will become a resource to those who are making that decision, making it a bit easier to navigate the two national corps. This blog will cover the application process to stigma and pressure, and everything in between. I’m not trying to answer which is better (I have no opinion on this myself), but help those who need it to decide which is right for them. Lastly, please don’t forget to take everything with a grain of salt: This blog is reflective of my own experiences, based on my convictions and outlook, my ethnicity and my sex.

Here’s to some good pickin’! Cheers!