Apply for Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Enhancement Program (US)

The goals of the CBYX Enhancement Program are to provide German youth participants in the CBYX High School and Young Professionals components with enhanced opportunities to learn about civil society and political life in the United States through a Washington, DC workshop designed to improve their understanding of civic engagement in the United States both  throughout history and currently. Workshops should include substantive engagement with Congress.

The program supports the exchange of American and German young people in order to sustain and strengthen the American-German friendship based on the common value of democracy and to convey lasting personal and institutional relationships to the successor generation. The primary objective of the program is to encourage American and German youth to learn about each other’s society and culture through educational exchange. In addition, the program seeks to promote the participants’ roles as young ambassadors with influence on future American-German relations, and to promote and strengthen the linkages between members of Congress and their Bundestag counterparts. The CBYX program provides a scholarship for an academic year experience of living and studying in the host country. ECA administers the CBYX program in the United States. In Germany, the program is known as the Parlamentarisches-Patenschafts Program (PPP) and is administered by the German Bundestag Administrative Office.

Funding Information

• Approximate Total Funding: $1,500,000.
• Approximate Average Award: $375,000, pending the availability of funds.
• Minimum “Floor” of Award: $150,000, pending the availability of funds
• Maximum “Ceiling” of Award: $750,000, pending the availability of funds.
• ECA reserves the right to reduce, revise, or increase proposal budgets in accordance with the needs of the program and the availability of funds.

Eligibility Criteria

• The following organizations are eligible to apply: U.S. public and private academic and cultural institutions, exchange-of-persons, and other not-for-profit organizations meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3). Applicants must have nonprofit status with the IRS at the time of application. Please see the Proposal Submission Instructions (PSI) for additional information.
• The following additional eligibility requirements apply to this NOFO announcement:
  • ECA’s grant guidelines require that organizations demonstrate at least four years of experience in conducting international exchanges to be eligible for awards exceeding $130,000 in ECA funding. As noted in section B above, ECA anticipates issuing up to two cooperative agreements, with the lowest award at $150,000. Therefore, organizations must demonstrate four years of experience in conducting international exchanges in your proposal to be eligible to apply under this competition.
  • All proposals must comply with the requirements stated in the NOFO, POGI (if applicable), and the PSI; non-compliance will result in your proposal being declared technically ineligible and given no further consideration in the review process.
  • In order to be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number issued as well as a valid registration.
  • Only one proposal will be considered by ECA from each applicant organization. In cases where more than one submission from an applicant appears, ECA will only consider the submission made closest in time to the NOFO deadline; that submission would constitute the one and only proposal ECA would review from that applicant.
• Please note: Applicant organizations are defined by their legal name, and EIN number as stated on their completed SF-424 and additional supporting documentation outlined in the PSI document.

Application Requirements

• For competitions that will include a NCC, applicants must submit the following as a part of your initial proposal:
  • A complete SF-424A which includes the budget request for the base year of the program.
  • A detailed proposal narrative and budget for the base year of funding. This should include a brief commitment to implement the program for one additional NCC year. (Please refer to the PSI for budget guidance.)
  • An estimated summary budget presenting the total projected costs for the anticipated total duration of programming – the base year plus one NCC year.
• To exercise the NCC mechanism, the recipient must submit:
  • Performance and financial reports on time.
  • A request in writing to ECA within 30 days of receiving the NCC invitation from ECA.
  • A summary budget that projects expenses through the current year’s end.
  • A detailed budget outlining expenses for the requested NCC year.
  • A brief narrative to support the continuation of the award.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.