You can find our first 2020-2021 students in the MyAFS Placements widget along with the students still awaiting families for their arrival in January. Check them out today!
We are excited to announce a new and improved process for releasing AFS Hosted Student applications for placement!
To read more details about the 2020 hosting distribution process, visit Hosting Application Distribution Process. Below are some key highlights.
We have learned that different times of the year require different strategies to ensure that ALL hosted students are placed in families and able to start their AFS programs on time. We also wanted to design a system that engages more volunteers in getting to know our great students by providing new resources to learn about students and identify families for them.
Stage One: Nationally Available
Highlights for December-February:
- Incoming Core AFS students are Nationally Available and may be placed in any team
- Sponsored Programs (SP) students (YES, Flex, and CB) are Regionally Available for placement in any Sponsored Programs cluster in the Region.
Stage Two: Area Team Available
Highlights for Mid-February – April:
- Core students linked directly to Teams
- Sponsored Programs students continue to be Regionally Available for placement in any SP cluster in the Region
- Resources provided to write student bios and identify families locally
- Regional collaboration and support
Stage Three: Refresh your Pool
Highlights in May:
- Volunteers select remaining students for their teams via a draft process
- Regional collaboration and support in finding families for all students in advance of the August 31 placement deadline.
New Host Family Application
In addition to a new process for releasing student applications, we are excited to announce that a new Host Family Application will be launched in the spring that will be mobile-friendly and allow interested families to start an application online without requesting it from staff. Note: families will not need to start over with the new app if they’ve already started on the current application.
Our AFS work is vital, and we are committed to providing the tools, resources, and support our volunteers and staff depend on. Look for more details in the coming months!