Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program
What is FLEX?
The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) was established in 1992 as the centerpiece of the NIS Secondary School Initiative, funded under the FREEDOM Support Act through a transfer of funds from the Department of State and USAID. Its goal is to provide an opportunity for high school students from Eurasia* to experience life in a democratic society in order to promote democratic values and institutions in Eurasia. Since 1993, more than 11,000 students from 12 Eurasian countries have participated and returned to their homes to pursue higher education and move into the job market.
Applicants are tested and screened in an elaborate open, merit-based competition, for which it is necessary to maintain an infrastructure-offices and personnel in key locations throughout Eurasia. All finalists participate in a pre-departure orientation in their home countries 4-6 weeks before they depart for the United States.
A small percentage of the students arrive in the United States in July to participate in a four-week intensive English language enhancement and cultural orientation program. This makes it possible to include students from remote areas where they may not have had the same opportunities to learn English as their counterparts from urban areas. It also allows for the inclusion of a small number of participants with disabilities. All other students arrive in August. FLEX participants are placed in host communities by a network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that cooperate with the Department of State under grants awarded specifically for that purpose. Students live with volunteer, unpaid host families, attend high school tuition-free, and engage in local, cultural enhancement activities, frequently with a civic education or community service focus that is in keeping with the democracy-building goals of the program.
The American Councils for International Education:ACTR/ACCELS maintains a network of 20 FLEX “hub” offices throughout Eurasia and handles all of the activities involving recruitment and screening, selection of finalists, communication with finalists and their documentation, pre-departure orientation, participant travel, and maintenance of information management and data processing systems. American Councils serves as a liaison with the students’ families and home/school authorities while they are in the United States. The organization also tracks and coordinates alumni activities. There is an active alumni association based at each program hub and the Department of State receives monthly reports of their activities.
For the past few years, the administrator of this grant has coordinated an essay contest to select participants in a week-long Washington D.C. Civic Education Workshop held in the spring. In recent years, FLEX students have been invited to meet with a number of high U.S. government officials, including former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
For additional information, including alumni programming, see the Youth Program Division web page at: http://exchanges.state.gov/education/citizens/students/flex.htm.
*The term Eurasia is used here to mean the 12 New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union. NIS was a State Department term coined in the early 1990s to refer to all of the countries that once made up the Soviet Union. It has become an anachronism since after 10 years, the “states” are not so new anymore; nor does it make sense to continue referring to a former political entity.
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