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Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program View the FLEX newsletter, The Bradley Herald.* The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) was established in 1992 as the centerpiece of the NIS Secondary School Initiative with FREEDOM Support Act funding from the State Department and USAID. Its goal is to provide an opportunity for high school students from the countries of the former Soviet Union to experience life in a democratic society in order to promote democratic values and institutions in Eurasia. Over 14,000 students from the former Soviet Union have spent one academic year attending schools and living with host families throughout the United States. The recruitment and selection process for this program is conducted by the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS. American Councils also provides cross-cultural materials, such as a Cultural Handbook, and serves as a liaison between the students and their families in their home countries. (View the Cultural Handbook and other ACTR resources.) Participants are chosen through a multi-layered, merit-based open recruitment and selection process totally unprecedented in Eurasia.* The selection is based upon English ability, personality factors, social skills, academic achievement, and leadership potential. All students undergo extensive orientation to life in America and pursue a full course of study at an American high school. The Department of State awards grants for school and host family placement and overall student monitoring to private U.S. organizations, including AFS-USA, Inc., AIFS, ACTR/ACCELS, ASPECT Foundation, ASSE International, AYUSA, Center for Cultural Interchange, Council on International Educational Exchanges, International 4-H Youth Exchange (IFYE) Foundation, Nacel Open Door, Pacific Intercultural Exchange, PAX–Program of Academic Exchange, and World Link, Inc. After their exchange year has ended and they have returned home, students have the option to participate in one of the numerous alumni associations active throughout each of the countries of Eurasia. Countries participating in the FLEX program include: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine. *"Eurasia," as used on the Youth Programs Division website, refers to countries that were republics of the Soviet Union. The exchange programs of the Youth Programs Division in these countries are jointly funded by the FREEDOM Support Act (FSA) of 1992 and State Department base funding. *The newsletter above is a PDF and requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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