History of Youth For Understanding
YFU USA is a non-profit organization that administers the Youth For Understanding programs in the United States. Through the exchange experience, YFU students gain skills and perspectives necessary to meet the challenges and benefit from the opportunities the fast-changing global community has to offer.
Although YFU now is comprised of a global network of over 60 partner offices and organizations that support more than 4,000 exchange students annually, YFU's global history began very humbly in the United States. In 1951 an American minister, John Eberly, proposed to church leaders that teenagers from war-torn Germany be brought to the United States to live with a family and attend high school for a year in an effort to heal the wounds of World War II. This proposal met with approval from State Department officials.
The hardships prevalent in Germany after World War II were having devastating effects on the country's youth. It was felt that an exchange experience could help them to break out of this cycle of bitterness, hopelessness, and despair. By teaching a group of young people how families lived together in the United States, the hope was that they would be motivated to go back to Germany and rebuild a new country, a democracy, according to what they had observed while living in the United States.
The First YFU Students
In 1951, 75 German teenagers from Germany and Austria were selected by the Army of the Occupation to come to live in the United States with American families for one year under the auspices of the US Department of State.
The students selected were from the oldest age group, which had not been part of the "Hitler Jugend" (the youth organization of the Nazi regime). The students were between 15 and 18 years old and, as it later became apparent, it was exactly this age group which seemed to be most able to naturally participate and adjust to the lifestyles and values of a foreign family and community.
Dr. Rachel Andresen, Executive Director of the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw Council of Churches, educator, and social worker, was asked (along with Rotary Districts 222 and 223 in the southeastern part of Michigan) to lend her assistance and helped place these first students in American homes on a voluntary basis
In 1952 the Council of Churches received permission to act as the official agency for this program. It was named "Youth For Understanding." Then as now, family and community living were at the center of the YFU international learning experience. Andresen served the program as Executive Director for over 20 years until she retired in 1973.
The selection and financing of the German students who came to Michigan during the early 1950’s was made possible through funds from the US government. In those years, the role of YFU was that of home placement and supervision. The organization's offices were moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, a university town located about 45 miles west of Detroit. In 1956, the US government funding was discontinued, but some transitional funds were made available as the US Department of State encouraged YFU to continue its work on a private basis.
In 1955, the first American teenagers went to Europe for ten weeks during summer vacation. These students were placed in European families with the assistance of returned exchange students and their parents.
YFU Extends its Reach
These initial exchanges, which grew out of an effort to heal the wounds of World War II, established the family living experience and provided the impetus for YFU expansion to other parts of the world. In the mid-fifties, the program grew to include Scandinavia, and later to western and central Europe. Youth For Understanding bridged the Pacific in 1958 when the first students came from Japan. The Pacific program now also includes Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, and China.
Youth For Understanding was introduced to Latin America in 1958, beginning with Mexico; South American countries opened their doors to YFU in 1959.
As the program increased in size, particularly with the addition of the South American programs, it became clear that incorporation as a non-profit educational organization was necessary. This status was achieved in 1964. As organizational relationships with international corporations and groups were forged over the years, YFU was determined to strengthen its national and international ties by relocating. The International Center moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Washington, DC in 1978.
The Council on Standards for International Educational Travel was founded in 1984 with the intent to identify reputable international youth exchange programs to insure that youth are provided with meaningful and safe international exchange experiences. On the basis of materials submitted and reviewed, the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel grants full listing to YFU USA in the 2009-2010 Advisory List. The CSIET certification mark certifies that this organization complies with the standards set forth in the CSIET Standards for International Educational Travel Programs.
Today, Youth For Understanding is one of the world's oldest, largest, and most respected international exchange programs. Since its’ inception in 1951, YFU offices around the world have exchanged over 240,000 students. With nearly 1,400 volunteers in communities across the United States, YFU USA is fully equipped to support the students and US host families that participate in our programs each year.
