About VolunTours | Brief History

For more than 30 years, Los Niños has been recognized as a leader in Service Learning trips for high school, college, and university students throughout North America.

In 2002, Los Niños began a partnership with David Clemmons to develop and grow the social enterprise of voluntourism.

During his work in the cause marketing arena, David Clemmons and two professional colleagues birthed the term VolunTour in an effort to create a cause-based initiative for the San Diego Convention and Visitor's Bureau that would offer more meaningful travel options for inbound leisure and business travelers.

In partnership with Los Niños, David Clemmons founded and developed www.voluntourism.org, a public service project designed to provide access to resources and research on the growing industry of voluntourism.

As demand has grown, Los Niños has expanded its services to provide integrated development support to additional communities and to offer service learning travel opportunities to additional locations.

In 2009, Los Niños changed its name to Via International and launched the Institute for Community Development and Voluntourism to provide capacity-building support to organizations, educational institutions, corporations, and communities interested in deepening their efforts in integrated community development and voluntourism.

To learn more about international VolunTour opportunities or to learn more about how the Institute can support your community, organization, or institution in growing voluntourism initiatives successfully, contact 619-426-9110