For 75 years, YFU has brought people together across cultures, creating connections that last a lifetime. Our mission remains as meaningful and necessary as ever: in a world that can feel divided, exchange experience continues to inspire understanding, dialogue, and positive change.
This year, we’re celebrating the people, milestones, and moments that have shaped YFU over 75 years. Generations of students brave enough to make the world their home. Generations of host families generous enough to invite the world into theirs. Generations of volunteers and staff dedicated enough to make it happen, every year, one placement at a time.
From that first class of 75 German teenagers to a global exchange network spanning dozens of countries, our history proves one thing: human connection builds bridges across divides — and empowers people to build a more peaceful world.
It started in 1951, with a simple but powerful goal: help people reconnect across borders and rebuild trust after years of war.
American minister John Eberly saw the toll World War II had taken on Germany’s youth and proposed something bold: bring teenagers from war-torn Germany to live with American families and attend high school for a year. The hope was that they would return home inspired to help rebuild Germany as a democracy, shaped by what they’d seen and lived in the U.S.
That first year, 75 German and Austrian teenagers — selected by the Army of the Occupation, the oldest age group not to have come of age under the Hitler Jugend — came to live with volunteer families in Michigan. Dr. Rachel Andresen, Executive Director of the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw Council of Churches, helped place them. In 1952, the Council of Churches became the program’s official agency, and gave it a name: Youth For Understanding.
Andresen led the organization until 1973, building it from a Michigan-based placement effort into a global movement for international understanding. By 1955, the exchange ran both ways, with American teenagers spending their summers with European families. Within a decade, YFU had crossed the Pacific to Japan and opened its first programs in Latin America — the seeds of the global network we’re part of today.
People who live a real, sustained cultural exchange — as students or as host families — come away seeing the world differently. They understand why cooperation matters. They see democratic societies as inherently pluralistic, and they support the institutions that bridge differences rather than exploit them.
In an increasingly fragmented world, that mindset is a counterbalance to the forces pulling us apart. The world needs understanding today as much as it did in 1951.
Here’s what seven decades of exchange looks like.
Students
Host Families
Alumni Participants
Countries
Volunteers
People Impacted
For 75 years, YFU has existed because someone said yes — a host family opened their door, a student got on a plane, a volunteer gave their time. That simple act of welcome has shaped 310,000 students and 375,000 host families across 70+ countries. Your gift helps write the next chapter: funding scholarships, supporting host families, and making sure the next generation gets the same life-changing exchange that built our first 75 years.
From 1951 to today — take a look back.
Come one, come all! Alumni, students, host families, volunteers, staff, and YFU-loving dogs — join us for a BBQ (meat and vegetarian options provided) at Picnic Grove 13 near the Nature Center. Bring a dish or a frisbee if you’d like, but just showing up is enough. Please RSVP here.
Interested in hosting your own event in your area? Sign-up here to receive further information.
1:30 PM – 6:00 PM — YFU Global Symposium: “Intercultural Exchange and Democratic Engagement” Featuring National Directors, special guest speakers, moderators, International Board Members, and the Global Office team.
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM — Reception Celebrating YFU’s 75th Global Anniversary
Registration will open at the end of August. If you’d like to be notified, please sign-up here!
Wear the milestone. Shop limited-edition 75th anniversary gear — because seven decades of building bridges deserves a shoutout on your sleeve.
