Who Volunteers? Part 1

I am starting a new series of blog posts in which I will be discussing who volunteers, why, and what it is like to serve as a Hispanic PCV.

I am one of about 120 Peace Corps Volunteers here in Azerbaijan. It is quite an eclectic group of people, from all parts of the US, spanning all ages, with all sorts of life experiences. There is one commonality however that most of those 120 share: they're all white people. Yep, who would've known Peace Corps had maaaaad white folk?

According to the official Peace Corps website, "the agency has always reflected the diversity of America.... Peace Corps Volunteers reflect the rich tapestry of our country." America's a rug, and I'm one of the brown stitches! YAY! According to U.S. Census data, (which I got here), here is the racial/ethnic breakdown of the US population (as of 2009):

White 79.6%
Black 12.9%
Asian 4.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.0%
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander 0.2%
Two or more races 1.7%

Hispanic (of any race) 15.8%
Non-Hispanic White 65.1%

(Tthe percentages may not add up to 100, because Hispanic is considered an ethnicity, not a race, and therefore technically everyone who is counted as Hispanic is also counted as one or more of the other races.)

So if the Peace Corps 'tapestry' completely 'reflects' the American one, it would make sense that those same percentages hold true amongst Peace Corps Volunteers, right? The following stats were taken from the 2010 All Volunteer Survey (percents may total to more than 100% since Volunteers were asked to "Mark all that apply"):

Q: Are you Hispanic/Latino?
6% Yes; Hispanic/Latino, (Of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, etc)
94% No; Not Hispanic/Latino

Q: What is your race? Mark as many as apply to indicate what you consider yourself to be.
82% White
6% Prefer Not to Answer
6% Asian American
5% Other
4% Black or African American
1% American Indian or Alaskan Native
1% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Notice any differences between the two sets of statistics? Hint: look at the Black/African American and the Hispanic categories. African Americans and Hispanics join the Peace Corps with much less frequency than their White or Asian American counterparts. Why is that? Is this something that is prevalent only within the Peace Corps agency, or is it more general? Is volunteering primarily something that white people do, and not minorities?