Paper Airplanes was originally founded by Bailey Ulbricht. After spending a summer volunteering to support Syrian refugees on the Turkish-Syrian border in 2013, she began meeting over Skype with several college-aged Syrians, who were asking for help with their English so they could complete their university degrees. Soon, the demand was much greater than she could provide, and she enlisted some friends in the US to help. The organization grew organically from there. Her idea was to use a people-to-people service model to help those affected by conflict learn the languages and skills they needed for their next steps. Beyond this aim, she hoped that the one-to-one model would help facilitate cross-cultural connections and counter harmful stereotypes about those who may be from a different part of the world, have a different religion, or have a different skin tone.

Nearly ten years later, we noticed an increasing trend: students returning as volunteers, contractors, managers, and tutors themselves with PA. Paper Airplanes was not only a global community but had become a feedback loop, where students were returning to serve others like them. Recognizing the power of this trend, the organization transitioned to a new leadership model: leading by communities directly affected. Rather than serve a community, Paper Airplanes wanted to embrace the idea that a community should be empowered to serve itself.