Deadline: 21-Oct-2024
The Office of Citizen Exchanges of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) announces an open competition for cooperative agreements for the FY 2025 Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program Placement Components.
The FLEX program provides high school students between the ages of 15 and 18 an opportunity to live with an American family, attend high school for an academic year, engage in community service, and participate in school and community activities. Funding through the Placement Components awards is also intended to allow Placement Organizations to sponsor local activities that will enhance students’ understanding of American-style democracy and civil society. The FLEX students are recruited from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. In addition, the program may recruit students in the future from Belarus and/or Russia. These two countries participated previously in FLEX, but the program is currently suspended in both countries.
FLEX Program Goals
- The overall goals of the FLEX program are as follows:
- Promote better understanding by youth from the United States and participating countries about host society, people, institutions, values, and culture;
- Foster lasting personal and professional ties;
- Advance mutual understanding, respect for diversity, leadership skills, and understanding of civil society during the exchange experience and beyond; and
- Enhance understanding of other countries and cultures and increase accurate understanding of American values in communities abroad.
Funding Information
- Approximate Total Funding: $30,720,000 (including base year and two NCC years)
- Approximate Average Award: $1,140,000
- Maximum “Ceiling” of Award: $10,240,000
- Minimum “Floor” of Award: $200,000
- Approximate Number of Awards: Approximately nine (9) cooperative agreements
- Anticipated Award Date: November 25, 2024, pending the availability of funds.
- Anticipated Award Completion Date: September 30, 2028.
Outcomes/Results
- The FLEX inbound program is intended to engage youth and foster relationships between the people of foreign countries and the United States by enabling students to:
- gain an understanding of American culture, diversity, and respect for others with differing views and beliefs;
- educate Americans about their home countries and cultures;
- interact with Americans and generate enduring ties;
- explore and acquire an understanding of the key elements of U.S. civil society, including concepts such as volunteerism, the idea that American citizens can and do act at the grassroots level to deal with societal problems, and an awareness of and respect for the rule of law; and
- share and apply experiences and knowledge in their home communities as FLEX alumni, initiating activities that focus on development and community service.
Eligibility Criteria
- U.S. public and private academic and cultural institutions, exchange-of-persons, and other not for-profit organizations meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3) may submit applications for this competition. Applicants must have nonprofit status with the IRS at the time of application.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.