Jerome Robinson, 53, of Baltimore, has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Morocco on September 20, 2016 to begin training as a youth development volunteer. Robinson will live and work in a community to promote youth engagement and active citizenship, as well as teach employability skills, health and HIV/AIDS education, environmental awareness, sports and fitness, and information technology skills.

What drove Robinson to apply to serve in the Peace Corps was “The opportunity to serve a community in need of assistance,” he said. “I have always wanted to serve in any capacity in Africa. The Peace Corps is allowing me to fulfill a lifelong dream.”

Robinson is the son of Maryland State Delegate Barbara A. Robinson, and is the father of Bianca Ann Robinson and Jerome Robinson III of Baltimore. He is the fiancé of Nequietha LaShaun Watson, a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Kenya from 1996 to 1998, then served again in Zambia from 2005 to 2006 with Peace Corps Response, a program of the Peace Corps that sends experienced professionals to undertake short-term, high-impact service assignments in communities around the world.

Robinson graduated from Milford Mill Academy in Baltimore, then attended the University of Baltimore, where he earned a B.S. in business administration. Robinson then went on to earn a master’s degree in business management from the University of Maryland University College in Adelphi, Maryland. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, he worked as a budget analyst at the Community College of Baltimore County.

During the first three months of his service, Robinson will live with a host family in Morocco to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture. After acquiring the necessary skills to assist his community, Robinson will be sworn into service and assigned to a community in Morocco, where he will live and work for two years with the local people.

As a Peace Corps volunteer, Robinson said he most looks forward to having “the opportunity to imerse myself in a culture different from my own.”

Robinson will work in cooperation with the local people and partner organizations on sustainable, community-based development projects that improve the lives of people in Morocco and help Robinson develop leadership, technical and cross-cultural skills that will give him a competitive edge when he returns home. Peace Corps volunteers return from service as global citizens well-positioned for professional opportunities in today’s global job market.

Robinson joins the 207 Maryland residents currently serving in the Peace Corps—75 of whom are from the Baltimore area—and more than 5,950 Maryland residents who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.

Click here to learn more about the Peace Corps in Morocco.