One way FoA achieves its objectives is through successfully partnering with community-based organizations, foundations, corporations, and schools that serve underrepresented communities. Since 2007, FoA has awarded scholarships to more than 2,200 outstanding teenagers and introduced them to a world of possibilities.

Our community partners value the impact that the AFS experience has on their students and how it supports the goals of their leadership and college preparatory programs. Studies show that students who experience a study abroad program are more likely to possess the global leadership skills necessary in today’s workforce. When students return from an AFS exchange, moreover, they are excited by what they’ve discovered—about the world and themselves—and inspired to keep exploring new and diverse opportunities. Nearly all FoA participants go on to college, and many participate in undergraduate exchange programs.

In 1995, AFS-USA, with funding from the DeWitt Wallace Fund, launched a diversity scholarship initiative targeting youth in urban areas. The goal was to reduce the cost barriers to participating in a life-changing high school study abroad program. In 2007, the scholarship initiative was renamed Faces of America (FOA). Today, FoA works with a consortium of community-based organizations (CBOs) to identify promising young scholars for educational opportunities abroad. Since the launch of our diversity scholarship programs students have participated in AFS programs to more than 25 countries.