Youth For Understanding (YFU) is one of the world's oldest, largest, and most respected international exchange organizations. Today, YFU USA administers the Youth For Understanding programs in the United States. YFU prepares young people for their responsibilities and opportunities in a changing, interdependent world.
Description: YFU must offer young people the adventure of a lifetime - the opportunity to explore other countries and cultures, master new languages, and discover themselves. We seek to transform young people by instilling passion for life-long learning, and the skills and knowledge to thrive and contribute amidst cultural diversity. To achieve these significant educational aims, we provide young people between the ages of 15 and 22 a variety of intensive exchange opportunities. Young enough to fully adjust to a new country and culture, yet old enough to reflect and integrate their experiences, our participants reap the rewards of host family and community life. We believe that this full immersion is the most effective means of international education, which will be increasingly relevant for generations to come.
History: A network of over 50 partner offices and organizations, YFU's global history began very humbly in the United States. In 1951 an American minister, John Eberly, proposed to church leaders that teenagers from war-torn Germany be brought to the United States to live with a family and attend high school for a year in an effort to heal the wounds of World War II. This proposal met with approval from State Department officials. The hardships prevalent in Germany after World War II were having devastating effects on the country's youth. It was felt that an exchange experience could help them to break out of this cycle of bitterness, hopelessness, and despair. By teaching a group of young people how families lived together in the United States, the hope was that they would be motivated to go back to Germany and rebuild a new country, a democracy, according to what they had observed while living in the United States.
Detroit, Michigan, area community and religious organizations helped place the students in American homes on a voluntary basis. Dr. Rachel Andresen, Executive Director of the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw Council of Churches, educator, and social worker, was asked to lend her assistance.
In 1952 the Council received permission to act as the official agency for this program. It was named "Youth For Understanding." Then as now, family and community living were at the center of the YFU international learning experience. Andresen served the program as Executive Director for over 20 years until she retired in 1973.
The selection and financing of the German students who came to Michigan during the early 1950s was made possible through funds from the US government. In those years, the role of YFU was that of home placement and supervision. The organization's offices were moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, a university town located about 45 miles west of Detroit. In 1956, the US government funding was discontinued, but some transitional funds were made available as the US Department of State encouraged YFU to continue its work on a private basis.
In 1955, the first American teenagers went to Europe for ten weeks during summer vacation. These students were placed in European families with the assistance of returned exchange students and their parents.
These initial exchanges, which grew out of an effort to heal the wounds of World War II, established the family living experience and provided the impetus for YFU expansion to other parts of the world. In the mid-fifties, the program grew to include Scandinavia, and later to western and central Europe. Youth For Understanding bridged the Pacific in 1958 when the first students came from Japan. The Pacific program now also includes Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, and China.
Youth For Understanding was introduced to Latin America in 1958, beginning with Mexico; South American countries opened their doors to YFU in 1959.
As the program increased in size, particularly with the addition of the South American programs, it became clear that incorporation as a non-profit educational organization was necessary. This status was achieved in 1964. As organizational relationships with international corporations and groups were forged over the years, YFU was determined to strengthen its national and international ties by relocating. The International Center moved from Ann Arbor, MI to Washington, DC in 1978.
Today, Youth For Understanding is one of the world's oldest, largest, and most respected international exchange programs. Since 1951, YFU offices around the world have exchanged approximately 200,000 students. In one year alone, approximately 4,500 students will participate in our programs worldwide. Through the exchange experience, YFU students gain skills and perspectives necessary to meet the challenges and benefit from the opportunities the fast-changing global community has to offer.
YFU USA conducts exchanges with more than 50 countries around the world. Each exchange is coordinated by a worldwide network of national YFU organizations all dedicated to providing the highest quality international educational experience for exchange students and their host families. With nearly 2,500 volunteers in communities across the United States, YFU USA is fully equipped to support every student and host family. Supporting our volunteers are five professionally staffed district offices and our national office in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. YFU USA receives scholarship support from the Japanese and Finnish governments and from numerous corporations and private donors.
YFU USA has been accepted for listing for 2006-2007 by the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET). The mission of CSIET is to identify reputable international youth exchange programs so that youth are provided with meaningful and safe international exchange experiences.
Contact person: Theresa Nowak, District Coordinator Of Recruitment And Development, (phone), (email) Office fax number: (617) 868-3774
Address:
2380 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 101 Cambridge, MA 02140 (See a map)
