U.S. Department of State Offers Grant for Foreign Language Study for American High School Students

The Department of State is pleased to announce the publication of its solicitation for the National Security Language Initiative-Youth (NSLI-Y) program. This grant program, under the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, targets seven languages and language families, including: Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Turkish, Indic, and Farsi. The grant will support short, medium (semester), and/or long (academic year) programs for approximately 550 students in countries where these languages are widely spoken.

U.S. public and private non-governmental organizations and consortia of such organizations are invited to submit proposals to conduct an exchange program to provide U.S. high school students and those who have just graduated with foreign language instruction and cultural immersion language training programs overseas.

These language training programs will enable students to receive language instruction, learn the host country’s culture, and interact with a host family. The Bureau anticipates awarding a single grant for the recruitment and administration of all NSLI-Y programs in all world regions.

The announcement was published on Thursday, April 10, in the Federal Register and on Grants.gov. The full text of the announcement is available on the ECA website at http://exchanges.state.gov/education/rfgps/menu.htm and online at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/ and http://www.grants.gov/. The deadline for project proposals is June 5, 2008. Grant awards will be announced in the summer of 2008.

Inquiries regarding submission of a proposal may be directed to the Office of Citizen Exchanges, ECA/PE/C/PY, 301 4th Street, SW, Room 220, Washington D.C., 20547, 202-453-8173.

Media representatives may contact Darlene Kirk at 202-203-7616 or Catherine Stearns at 202-203-5107.

2008/289

Released on April 17, 2008