Have you checked out the AFS-USA Hosting Academy videos and resources? Here’s a recap of what the AFS -USA Hosting Academy is all about:

In January and February of 2021, AFS Field staff team in partnership with hosting volunteers facilitated a five week AFS-USA Hosting Academy. The goal of the Hosting Academy was to kick-off the continued rebuilding of AFS, the hosting season, and to empower volunteers across the country to become AFS Hosting Heroes.

Nationally, 107 volunteers, including three representatives of AFS Canada, participated and completed at least one of the online trainings and/or attended the weekly live discussions. In a post-Academy evaluation,  volunteers responded that they felt more confident in their ability to identify host families and place a student with a family in 2021 after completing the Academy.

The Academy was broken down into five main topics:

Week 1:

Welcome to the Academy and Overview

Week 2:

H for Hosting Overview

Week 3:

E for Volunteer Engagement & Hosting

Week 4:

R for Hosting Recruitment

Week 5:

O for Getting Organized

You can access the Hosting Academy content by clicking here, or by accessing the Training Center through MyAFS and clicking on ‘All Courses.’ For a sneak peak, you can view the first video in the series here.