Youth Ambassadors for Community Service Program – France

Purpose

• Established in 2008, the Youth Ambassadors for Community Service Program selects high-school participants from underserved backgrounds across France, including the French Caribbean, to participate in a yearlong leadership training program that encourages volunteerism, self-confidence, intercultural sensitivity, and independence.
• Participants will attend two pre-departure training sessions between January 2025 and June 2025, as well as a debriefing upon their return, organized by a different French implementing NGO, in coordination with the organization awarded the overall grant.
• In partnership with the U.S. Embassy France, the recipient organization will design the two-week U.S. exchange program, in October and/or November 2025, which will enhance participants’ understanding of American democratic institutions and volunteer initiatives. Participants will travel to Washington D.C. for initial programming. After spending time in Washington D.C., they will be divided into subgroups in three different cities/host communities, where they will be placed with American host families and meet American students their age. They will then return to Washington D.C. for debriefing and evaluation, as well as visits to the Department of State and the French Embassy to the United States.
• Participants will engage in a variety of activities, including but not limited to workshops on leadership and community service, community site visits related to program themes, interactive training and discussion groups, volunteer opportunities, visits to educational facilities, local cultural activities, homestays, and other activities designed to achieve the program’s stated goals.
• The exchange must include multiple opportunities for participants to have significant, meaningful interactions with their American peers.
• Follow-on activities with the participants are an essential part of the program, and the exchange activities should prepare participants to apply the knowledge and skills that they will have acquired during their time in the United States in the planning of concrete projects in their home communities.

Program Objectives

• Promote equal opportunities for all and encourage knowledge-sharing and intercultural dialogue between French and American youth.
• Raise awareness about civic engagement and volunteerism among young people.
• Strengthen Franco-American friendship and understanding through soft diplomacy.
• Offer French youth the chance to represent their peers and participate in civic initiatives abroad.
• Build leadership skills, encourage volunteerism, self-confidence, intercultural sensitivity, and nurture excellence and civic engagement among young leaders from underserved communities.
• Allow participants to become pillars of community organization, keeping their peers involved in positive social activities and promoting tolerance and achievement.
• Provide participants with tools to build alliances with American counterparts and to produce positive change in underserved communities.

Funding Information

• Total available funding: $150,000
• Award amount: Award may range to a maximum of $150,000
• Length of performance period: September 1, 2024 – December 30, 2025
• Number of awards anticipated: One award
• Anticipated program start date: Program planning should begin in 2024

Participants and Audiences 

• Up to 30 outstanding French high school students, between the ages of 15 and 17, many from underprivileged backgrounds with leadership potential and commitment to civic engagement.

Eligibility Criteria

• The U.S. Embassy France Public Diplomacy Section encourages applications from U.S. and French not-for-profit organizations.
• For-profit, commercial entities and individuals are not eligible to apply.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.