The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Education, recently released a letter about the value of hosting international students and encouraging school superintendents to do so to benefit their school communities.

You can read the full letter here. Share our LinkedIn Post on your own profile! This is also a great letter to share with educators and schools in your community.

AFS-USA is grateful to the US Deputy Assistant Secretary Nicole Elkon for leading these efforts to support intercultural student exchange, and for attending AFS-USA’s Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) Programs Workshop where we celebrated the AFS-USA Global School and Educator Awardees and milestone anniversaries of the CBYX, KLYES, and FLEX programs.

“Our work abroad is and always will be interconnected with our needs at home. The White House and the Department of State are committed to a foreign policy that benefits all Americans. We often hear from our partners and participants how our students are expanding American host families’ appreciation for other cultures, or how American classmates are learning about critical world concerns from the perspective of students who have grown up elsewhere.” – DAS Elkon

AFS-USA is proud of our work with educators, schools, and communities as we help our next generation achieve global and intercultural competence. This show of support from the Departments of State and Education is an important milestone toward ensuring that the value of our programs is recognized by schools – from teachers to administrators.