AFS-USA is preparing to move into Phase Two of this year’s hosting distribution plan. We are so excited at the efforts and success we’ve been experiencing this hosting placement season, and the rate at which students are being placed with their host families!

The below distribution plan applies both to our Core/Flagship and Sponsored Programs students. Please see below for a breakdown of Phase Two and Phase Three.  You can find the full Help & Learning Article on the Hosting Distribution Plan here.

Phase 2:  Area Team Available

• Beginning Monday, March 21st at 12:00am ET there will be a pause on holds, meaning hold request entered after Sunday, March 20th at  11:59pm ET will not be allowed, so that any students without a pending placement, can be made Area Team Available to teams on March 23-24th
• Students from a variety of countries will be linked directly to Area Teams as Area Team Available by our Hosting Operations staff
  • Staff will work to best link students so that each Team receives students from a variety of countries (and can meet their goals for GER, ITA, THA placements), and will give special care in spreading out challenging-to-place students among Teams and across Regions
• During this phase, volunteers will have the opportunity to get to know specific students to share with schools, Area Team Volunteers, and potential host families, without worrying about another area team placing the student.
• As a hosting volunteer/team you may:
  • Write or modify student bios to customize for your local communities
  • Share bios in your community/area team/schools and work to identify families for these specific students with resources and support from your Regional Field Specialist

Phase 3:  Refresh your Pool

• On June 1st, volunteers will have the opportunity to choose unplaced participants from their Area Team’s pool to be reshuffled.
• Students selected by an Area Team for reshuffling will be reallocated by staff to another Team in your region and your Area Team’s pool will be refreshed with a replacement participant from another team, dependent on matrix goals.
• We know that it can be invigorating to see some fresh faces as we make the final push to secure families and school spots for all students.
• By early June, Area Teams will have their final pool of students to focus on placing through the identification of host families/schools for all of our 2022-2023 AFS students by AFS-USA’s first arrivals placement deadline of July 26th and final placement deadline of August 31st.

If you have any questions, please contact your Regional Field Specialist or Regional Director.

Thank you!