The Data Liberation Project — Peace Corps Resignations

This request is a collaboration with journalist Corin Faife.

If a Peace Corps volunteer chooses to resign from their position (as opposed to ending their service due to a medical condition or regional political situation), an assessment of the reason for this resignation is made by a supervising staff officer and collected via Form MS-284 Attachment D (“Resignation Form”).

According to a Federal Register notice, information collected through this form is stored in the system of records known as “Peace Corps Volunteers: Reasons for Resignation, PEACE CORPS/PC-7,” or “PC-7” for short.

Our FOIA request 📄 seeks all database records stored within the PC-7 system (as well as all analogous resignation form records stored in systems that may have preceded or succeeded PC-7), with the exception of data fields that contain personally-identifiable information.

🔔 Click here to receive updates about this request

Updates

Records Published • On October 10, 2023, the Data Liberation Project published the records received through the appeal.
Appeal Granted • On August 11, 2023, the Peace Corps granted the Data Liberation Project’s appeal, “reversing our decision to withhold the information under FOIA exemption (b)(5).” Additionally, the agency wrote, “After reviewing your initial FOIA request and appeal, the Peace Corps conducted a second search of the Office of Strategic Information, Research, and Planning (OSIRP). As a result of this new search, we are providing you with a new, comprehensive Excel spreadsheet that contains the data elements for all resignations from the Peace Corps through July 31, 2023.”
Appeal Acknowledged • On July 14, 2023, the Peace Corps acknowledged our appeal, which has been assigned case number 23-0186.
Appeal Filed • On July 10, 2023, co-requestor Faife and the Data Liberation Project filed a letter appealing this request’s determination 📄, arguing that responsive records exist and were improperly withheld.
Non-responsive Records Provided • On May 2, 2023, the Peace Corps sent records 📄 it said were responsive to the first part of this request, along with a final response letter 📄 for that part. The records, however, were a spreadsheet of aggregated, redacted statistics, rather than the records requested.
Request Acknowledged, Placed In “Simple” Category, Fee Waiver Granted • On April 4, 2023, the Peace Corps sent an email acknowledging this request. The email indicates that the request has been placed in the “simple” category and that our fee waiver request has been granted.
Request Elaborated • On March 31, 2023, in response to our request submission, a Peace Corps information specialist asked if we’d like to modify the request to also cover system of records PC-17’s Volunteer Information Database Application (VIDA) and Peace Corps Volunteer Database Management System (PCVDBMS), which might contain the relevant records. We agreed; per the specialist, our confirmation via email was sufficient and there is no need to file a new request.