American Exchange Project Inc

The American Exchange Project (AEP) is a new initiative designed to connect American high school students from different socio-economic backgrounds and regions to each other. Its goal is to bridge differences and increase young people’s civic engagement through experiences with people different than themselves. Launched in 2019 with the vision of becoming a national “Peace Corps” program, AEP places recently graduated high school students with a host family in a town different from their own for a week in the summer. The exchange is designed to coincide with a local cultural event, such as a rodeo or local festival or concert, in which the exchange students serve as a volunteer and engage with the local community. This one-year $50,000 grant provides general operating support to AEP to increase its capacity to prepare 45 students and host locations from across the country – a 10-fold increase from its first summer exchange in 2019 in which AEP served four students – to participate in AEP’s 2022 summer exchange program.