This year, the Alliance made a list of commitments to our membership that we prioritized throughout 2024: preparing for the incoming Congress and Administration, communicating and validating impact, and strengthening our position.
Together with our members, supporters, and partners, we upheld those commitments in the following ways:
Preparing for the incoming Congress and Administration
- We released our international educational and cultural exchange policy priorities for the incoming Trump Administration. The priorities focus on five key areas of growth and collaboration with the incoming administration:
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- Support a strong appropriation for Department of State international exchange programs
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- Support and expand Department of State BridgeUSA private sector exchange programs
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- Increase the number of international students studying in the U.S.
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- Create more access for American students and young professionals to study and work abroad
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- Ensure effective and secure processing of exchange visitor and international student visas by the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs
- We congratulated Senator Rubio on his nomination to serve as Secretary of State, and sent a letter to his office, congratulating him directly and highlighting the positive economic, political, and social impact of international exchange programs on Americans and American communities.
- We hosted a post-election briefing for Alliance members to discuss the Alliance’s advocacy strategy in 2025 and beyond and provide an overview of the new Congressional makeup and what we know about the incoming Administration.
- We created a 2024 presidential election working group with 26 Alliance community leaders to talk through the potential outcomes of the 2024 presidential election and the challenges and opportunities posed by either outcome for the exchange community.
- We hosted an Alliance Community Conversation in February featuring Ben Staub, Partner at Thorsen French Advocacy, and Parker Novak, Deputy Government Relations Director at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) who provided an in-depth discussion of the political landscape on Capitol Hill and what to expect as we approach the 2024 presidential and congressional elections.
Communicating and Validating Impact
- To help tell the stories of exchanges to a wider audience, we facilitated a community-wide messaging and social media campaign focused on international exchanges as proven investments in all facets of American life:
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- Driving the Economy
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- Creating Future Leaders
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- Advancing American Interests
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- Telling America’s Story
- In response to a significant overhaul of the regulations governing the BridgeUSA Au Pair Program, we rallied our members and Au Pair hosts to demonstrate the value of the program and the existential damage the proposed regulatory changes posed. Our collective action resulted in the creation of: a 50+ page comment letter to the Department of State (DOS); a legal comment letter; and a grassroots letter-writing campaign to DOS generating 5,200 comments (approx. 50% of total comments submitted), all leading to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ (ECA) commitment to reissuing a new proposed rule incorporating feedback from these comments and additional community outreach.
- Through our annual Advocacy Day, 89 Alliance member participants shared the value of exchange programs with more than 125 congressional offices.
- During our inaugural Summer of Action local advocacy initiative, 19 Alliance members and partners engaged with 51 Members of Congress and their local state/district staff and one Governor’s office increasing awareness of international exchange programs throughout the U.S.
- To showcase the impact and importance of BridgeUSA programs, we commissioned Rajika Bhandari Advisors (RBA) to compile a comprehensive BridgeUSA impact report on the economic and community benefits of five programs (Au Pair, Camp Counselor, Intern/Trainee, SWT), which will be released in early 2025. The report will include program one-pagers and state-level economic impact sheets and will serve as a critical component of our advocacy toolkit.
- Alliance members and supporters, participants, alumni, community stakeholders, government officials, as well as fellow exchange advocates celebrated Exchange Day’s 10th anniversary on Monday, August 5. Across the country, Exchange Day participants invited elected and government officials to over 60 in-person events and highlighted programmatic impact on social media.
Strengthening our Position
Strength comes in numbers, and, in our field, we are fortunate to have many partners and fellow exchange champions. Together we:
- Pushed for increased educational and cultural exchange funding at $808.6 million in FY25. We facilitated House and Senate letters in support of ECE funding led by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA, 4) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and signed by 110 Representatives and 36 Senators, respectively.
- Defeated three amendments threatening exchange program funding and, in the process, gained vocal support on the House floor from State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Barbara Lee (D-CA, 12) and Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-NY, 5). Thanks in part to an Alliance-led grassroots letter writing campaign that sent 2,456 letters to 391 Representatives in just three days, the most damaging amendment aiming to defund the ECE account was withdrawn before consideration and the other two voted down handily with bipartisan support.
- Revamped and reintroduced the Americans for Cultural Exchange coalition. This no cost, no commitment Alliance advocacy initiative supports BridgeUSA programs (Au Pair, Camp Counselor, Intern, Trainee, Teacher, Secondary School Student, and Summer Work Travel) through engagement of its signers who represent host employers, schools, local chambers of commerce, and exchange organizations.
- Gathered in Washington, D.C. with over 60 Department of State officials and 250 exchange community members to share information and build community at the 2024 Annual Conference.
- Continued our work driving international student recruitment and success as a co-founder and steering committee member of the U.S. for Success Coalition.
- Engaged 80+ early career exchange professionals through community-building opportunities facilitated by the Young Professionals of the Alliance network, empowering them to take advantage of the Alliance’s variety of advocacy and programming opportunities available to members.
- Welcomed nine new and returning members and supporters to the Alliance community: Au Pair International, Au Pair Weekend, CCUSA, Exchange Your Life, The Forum on Education Abroad, Fulbright Association, Institute of International Education (IIE), JB International, and Stage-Global, who bring invaluable expertise and insight to our collective work.
The Alliance’s efforts are strengthened and amplified thanks to the commitment of our member organizations, supporters, and countless partners. Thank you to all those who tirelessly advocate on behalf of these life-changing programs.
As we enter the holiday season and prepare for the new year, we hope all those in the international education and exchange community take a moment to reflect on and celebrate the impact of our work, the strength of our field, and our unified advocacy efforts as we enter 2025.
Thank you and happy holidays from the Alliance!