AFS-USA is celebrating 75 years of empowering people to become globally engaged citizens by delivering meaningful intercultural experiences. Bolstered by these experiences, AFSers help create a more just and peaceful world. In honor of the 75th Anniversary, Jenny K. Messner, with her husband Mike, established the Messner Family Matching Gift Challenge. Thanks to their incredible generosity, any gift made in September will be matched up to $250,000!
AFS-USA is carefully monitoring the tragic invasion in Ukraine. While we do not currently have participants in Ukraine or Russia, our global network of staff and volunteers, both in Europe and in the United States, continues to provide support to our students and families who may have questions or concerns. The safety and well-being of our participants, staff, and volunteers is always our top priority.
It is at times like this that the clarity and importance of the AFS mission is on full display. The AFS Network is dedicated to continuing the exchange of people and ideas whenever and wherever it is possible to do so. This was true, for example, during the Cold War, when AFS was one of the few organizations in the world still exchanging future leaders between the USA and the former USSR. And this commitment is still strong today.
We understand that education has taken on a new look and feel over the past couple of years and some of that may continue in the 2022-2023 academic year. Students, families, the U.S. Department of State, and AFS-USA will continue with their goals of intercultural learning and global citizenship while keeping safety as a top priority.
AFS-USA honors the legacy of its founders—volunteer WWI and WWII American Field Service ambulance drivers—who emerged from the wars with a bold mission: to help prevent future conflict through cultural exchange and understanding.
As a partner in the global AFS network, AFS-USA offers international exchange and education opportunities in over 45 countries and hosts exchange students from 80 countries. True to the spirit of our founders, these intercultural programs are made possible by the dedicated work of AFS Volunteers—more than 3,000 in the U.S. and over 50,000 worldwide.
Our diverse study abroad programs vary in length from a year to a few weeks and cover timely and timeless topics such as sustainability and language learning. What every program has in common is a commitment to fostering intercultural and global competence in our students, host families, schools, and communities. This cultural exchange helps us come together, across typical divides, to make a more peaceful and just world. That’s the #AFSEffect.
By supporting AFS programs, you foster transformative experiences that last a lifetime. Today’s exchange students are tomorrow’s changemakers: diplomats; thought leaders; influencers in the international business and nonprofit communities. Every new AFS Student is another global citizen in progress—an individual primed to help build a more just and peaceful world. And the impact doesn’t stop with the students. Host families’ lives are transformed by students from across the globe and host communities gain greater cultural diversity. That’s The AFS Effect.
We are committed to creating safe and supportive intercultural learning opportunities for all high school study abroad participants, including persons with disabilities and people of all gender identities, ethnicities, races, religions, and sexual orientations.
AFS-USA provides opportunities for intercultural exchange that develop the global competence needed to create a more just and peaceful world. As we’ve consistently demonstrated, AFS nurtures active global citizens who make the world a better place.
