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About Us

Mission

AFS-USA works toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools, and communities through a global volunteer partnership.

AFS History

AFS Intercultural Programs (formerly the American Field Service) is a worldwide, nonprofit organization that has been leading student exchange for more than 60 years. During World Wars I and II, young Americans volunteered as ambulance drivers in the American Field Service evacuating the wounded from the battlefields. When they returned home, they founded a movement to promote understanding and peace through international student exchange known as AFS Intercultural Programs. They believed--as AFS believes today--that building a more just and peaceful world begins when people from different countries and cultures meet, learn together, and better understand one another. In 1947, the first year of this program, AFS exchanged 52 young people from 11 countries formerly at war.

AFS Today

Today, AFS exchanges more than 11,000 students each year among a partnership of more than 50 AFS partner countries. AFS-USA sends more than 1,500 students to more than 40 countries each year; awards more than $1 million in financial aid and scholarships annually; places students from abroad with more than 2,700 families; and is supported by more than 8,000 AFS Volunteers in the U.S. and 100,000 volunteers around the world.