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Indiana 4-H International
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FLEX Program 
The Future Leaders Exchange
The FLEX program is arewarding way to promote peace and understanding between the United States and the former Soviet Union. The youth who are selected to participate in this program live with a host family from early-August through mid-June. Host families provide room and board for the students. The students receive funds to help them enroll in school and participate in enhancement activities and receive a monthly stipend for their personal expenses.
Host families are needed each year to host FLEX students in Indiana through 4-H International Programs.
WHAT IS FLEX?
The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) is a federal government program which provides opportunities for high school students (ages 15-17) from the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union to spend a year in the United States, living with a family and attending an American High School.
FLEX participants come from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE FLEX PROGRAM?
The program was created out of the former Senator Bill Bradley’s conviction that the best way to ensure long-lasting peace and understanding between the U.S. and the emerging democracies of the former Soviet Union is to enable NIS young people to learn about democracy firsthand through experiencing it. The program’s major goal is democracy-building – exposing likely future leaders of the emerging NIS democracies to our democratic society and free market economy. Since the program’s inception in 1993, thousands of young citizens from the former Soviet Union have been awarded scholarships to participate in this program. They have returned to their countries imbued with a new enthusiasm and a desire to help lead their countries towards a democratic future.
HOW ARE FLEX PARTICIPANTS SELECTED?
Participants are recruited and selected through a multi-level, merit-based, open competition that spans the 11 time zones of the former Soviet Union. Academic performance, English language competence, and personal qualities (e.g., adaptability, flexibility, openness) are important factors in the selection process. Applicants must have the equivalent of at least a “B” average; are tested in English speaking, writing, and comprehension; and are interviewed individually and in groups. About 20% of the initial applications make it to the final round and are sent to Washington, D.C. where specially trained committees of private sector volunteers make the final selections. Approximately 1 in 30 of the initial applicants are ultimately selected as participants. A large-scale competition based solely on merit, such as this one, is totally unprecedented in the NIS.
WHO ADMINISTERS THE FLEX PROGRAM?
The FLEX program receives an annual allocation from Congress, which has entrusted the United States Department of State with responsibility for administration of the program. State awards grants to private, not-for-profit organizations which submit bids to help run different components of FLEX. Grantee organizations help with recruitment and selection, placement of students with families and in schools, monitoring of students while they are in the U.S., liaisoning with natural families in the NIS, civic education programming, facilitation of programming for disabled students, and coordination of alumni activities. The FLEX program staff also acknowledges major in-kind contributions from the private sector, without which the program would not be possible. These include accommodation of students in the homes of many private citizens, waiver of normal tuition and fees by hundreds of schools (both public and private), and pro bono assistance for FLEX students by countless medical and dental personnel.
“Through this program, we can break down misconceptions and stereotypes”
-John Hughes, high school principal from Mississippi
WHAT HAPPENS TO FLEX STUDENTS WHEN THEY RETURN HOME?
This is the question most frequently asked of FLEX program staff. After a year of living in the U.S., FLEX students have changed tremendously. Most FLEX alumni say they have learned to appreciate their home country more; but it is clear that they have learned about and integrated many aspects of American society and culture, as well. Alumni of many international exchange programs often say that the most difficult adjustment they have to face is the reverse culture shock they experience when they go home. To facilitate this adjustment and to help FLEX students perpetuate their American experience, the program offers a network of alumni associations throughout the NIS which returning students are encouraged to join. These associations meet regularly for discussions, American movies, and holiday celebrations, debates, speaker nights, career counseling, and community service activities. The alumni associations provide both an outlet and a forum for these bright, young citizens and give them opportunities to participate in activities that support their movement towards positions of leadership in their countries.
“To have a strong democratic system, there must be good people who really understand how it works.”
- Russian student from California
WHY IS THE FLEX PROGRAM IMPORTANT?
FLEX assists NIS young people in developing the qualities they will need to lead in the transformation of their countries in the 21st Century. The American people, through their government institutions, spent untold billions of dollars over five decades in an effort to contain the threat of totalitarianism. The FLEX program provides an opportunity to build up these societies of the New Independent States and thereby ensure that the peoples of the former Soviet Union and the United States will continue on a path towards peace and understanding and not return to a state of hostility. Together we CAN make a difference!
HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
Involvement is available at many levels – as a grantee organization helping to run part of the program, as a host family accommodating a FLEX student, and as a host school welcoming the student for an academic year
Download the Host Family Application Now!
For more information, please call your County Extension office or the State 4-H Department at 888-EXT-INFO.