Written by: Kia Venegas, Greater Chicago Area Team, National Council Communications Committee Member
The 2025-2026 AFS-USA Community Summit series continued a sweep across the country with the Chicago event, held Nov 8-9 at a Chicago area hotel near O’Hare airport. Like the national AFS-USA Summits in past years, the Community Summits are an opportunity for AFS-USA volunteers to increase their connections to other volunteers and staff while learning new skills, sharing best practices, and being energizd (or re-energized) by AFS-USA’s mission. By expanding to the Community Summit model in 2025-2026, AFS-USA is successfully meeting the goal to impact a greater number of volunteers than those who are able to attend the national summits.
These gatherings bring together volunteers, host family members, returnees, and staff to explore this year’s theme: Where Belonging Meets Impact. The Chicago event is expected to be the largest of the series, with approximately 100 attendees drawing from this area of the U.S. with the highest density of AFS-USA volunteers. The Chicago summit included the Greater Chicago, Greater Illinois, Milwaukee, World Class, World Flags, Northwoods Gateway, Greater Indiana, and Michigan area teams.
The Greater Chicago area team was happy to put our best foot forward as the “host community,” spotlighting our beautiful city. The team organized full-to-the-brim goody bags stuffed with info about Chicago, and Chicago swag and sweets. The Chicago team also brought in lovely table centerpieces and a Chicago backdrop for photo ops! Additionally, each of the sessions on day one of the summit was co-presented by one of four Chicago volunteer leaders along with AFS-USA staff.
“I have some wonderful ideas to take back home and implement in my community, to engage more volunteers”, stated one attendee. Another mentioned the event “Was very informative and it was great to connect with other teams and volunteers”.
This summit coincided with the annual Board of Directors meeting, which was held the same weekend at the same hotel. Capitalizing on these combined meetings included opening the event with a welcome by John Bacon, AFS-USA Board Chair, and a talk delivered by Tara Hofmann, President of AFS-USA on the 2nd day of the event. The gathering was also an opportunity to recognize the winner of the 2025 Young Volunteer Award, Carly Armstrong of the World Flags Team.
As the summit series continues nationwide, these gatherings offer a platform for more AFS-USA community members to contribute ideas, learn from peers, and strengthen local programs. Upcoming dates and locations will be announced to all volunteers in the areas and will be posted on the AFS-USA website.