What We Do
AFS provides intercultural learning and volunteer opportunities for students, young adults, teachers and families through international exchange.
AFS Around the World
AFS is one of the world’s largest non-profit volunteer-based organizations. It offers international exchange programs in over 50 countries through local AFS organizations, each with a network of volunteers, a professionally staffed office, and headed up by a volunteer board. AFS International provides worldwide leadership, coordination, support, quality control and development of AFS organizations and programs.
Benefits of Intercultural Study
In today’s world we often see “monsters” in the negative portrayals of one cultural group by another. Living in another culture through AFS helps students overcome the “us” versus “them” mentality, to build relationships across cultures, and to deepen their understanding of their home cultures at the same time. Host families also overcome stereotypes through their hosting experience. Intercultural learning through AFS is needed more now than ever.
Safety and Risk Management
AFS’s commitment to participant safety is paramount and overrides all other considerations throughout the program starting with the initial selection.
Our 90-year History
During the World Wars I and II American Field Service volunteer ambulance drivers assisted wounded soldiers on the battlefields. In 1946 the ambulance drivers decided to engage in international student exchange as a way to promote cross cultural understanding. Since then, more than 300,000 students and adults have been exchanged.