OUR HISTORY

A handful of college students arrive in Alaska’s Copper Valley at the request of the Sisters of Saint Anne and the Oregon Province of Jesuits. These young leaders helped to build the Copper Valley School and stayed on to teach and support the Native Alaskan population of Copper Valley.

Six, regional organizations develop to bring the model of passionate young leaders engaging in vital service to the Pacific Northwest, East, Southwest, Midwest, South and abroad. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps model proves successful, providing thousands of agencies at the front lines of social justice with crucial assistance via highly-skilled and enthusiastic volunteers.  
 

JVC East, Southwest, Midwest, South, and International merge to become the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. (JVC), headquartered in Baltimore, MD. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps draws on decades of close relationships and institutional knowledge to become a global organization that effectively furthers its mission and values in communities across the world. 

Since the founding of JVC East in 1975, over 12,000 Jesuit Volunteers have taken on the world’s most difficult challenges in order to build a more just and hopeful world. Former Jesuit Volunteers have gone on to do amazing things: they serve the public interest as members of Congress, found and lead organizations at the forefront of social change, heal bodies and minds as medical professionals, advocate for justice as lawyers and judges, and continue to work with the marginalized. Over these 60 years, JVC has created a movement and a way of engaging with the world that will continue to live on for generations.  
 

Over 100 Jesuit Volunteers currently provide vital service within 20 communities across the United States. With a mission of forming young people dedicated to a faith that promotes justice, JVC provides individuals with the opportunity to engage in service and solidarity with local communities, with the values of spirituality, simple living, community, and social justice. Our volunteers bring a dedication to the cause of justice and the courage to transform themselves and the communities they serve. We help them discover how to put this passion to work for life.