VIA

VIA (formerly Volunteers In Asia and Trans-Pacific Exchange) is an independent, non-sectarian, 501(c)(3) non-profit making organization dedicated to increasing understanding between the U.S. and Asia. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area and founded in 1963, VIA provides two kinds of programs. VIA's Asia Programs offer Americans the chance to live and volunteer in Asia, while VIA's Stanford Programs enable East Asian university students the opportunity to participate in multi-week themed programs in the United States. History VIA was established during the 1960s, an era of radical social change and questioning in the United States, especially among college students and other youth. In a century that had already seen two massive wars involving numerous countries, and following a decade of relative peace and prosperity fraught with fear over the rise of Communism, Americans in the 1960s increasingly looked to better acquaint themselves with the international community. It was in this era that the Peace Corps, the US government's program sending Americans overseas to volunteer, was established with great success. It was also during this period that the US Congress established the East-West Center in Hawaii, an institution designed to bridge learning between Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders. Although much smaller in comparison, VIA has also provided a range of educational and exchange opportunities designed to link Asians and Americans, but it has done so without any governmental or religious affiliation. In 1963, Dwight Clark, then Dean of Freshmen Men at Stanford University, responded to the desire of students to better equip themselves for the future by organizing a group that visited Hong Kong that summer to engage in a variety of volunteer service projects. Thus began a yearly tradition of summer volunteering that was officially established in 1966 as Volunteers in Asia. In response to the Vietnam War, two-year positions were created for conscientious objectors seeking "alternative service" opportunities in Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan and Nepal. By the end of the Vietnam War, Volunteers in Asia had firmly established summer programs for undergraduates and two-year programs for college graduates. The programs were expanded to include students from other Bay Area universities and then, in the late 1990s, nationwide recruitment was instituted.