FY 2026 Youth Ambassadors Programs

FY 2026 Youth Ambassadors Programs

The FY 2026 Youth Ambassadors Programs were a U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) cooperative-agreement competition for organizations that could design and operate youth leadership exchanges. The official Grants.gov record and the attached ECA Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) show that this application round closed on July 17, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Applications uploaded after the closing time were to be rejected automatically by Grants.gov, with no exception stated in the notice.

This page is therefore a historical reference, not an open application listing. No new Youth Ambassadors application deadline was announced in the official record reviewed for this update. The NOFO says that, subject to satisfactory implementation and available funding, ECA intends to renew the awards for two additional consecutive fiscal years before openly competing the opportunities again. That statement is not a new application announcement, so prospective applicants should not treat this page as evidence that a later round is accepting proposals.

Confirmed program facts

The program was not an individual scholarship or a direct application for teenagers. It was an institutional award for organizations responsible for recruiting, preparing, and supporting groups of young people and, in selected options, adult mentors. The exchanges were designed around youth leadership and lasted three weeks. Activities could include skills-development workshops, leadership training, community projects, cultural activities, and homestays with local host families. Participants were expected to use what they learned to develop follow-on projects in their home communities.

The NOFO described eight separate program options: Africa, East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, Middle East and North Africa, South and Central Asia, Western Hemisphere, Youth Ambassadors-USA, and Youth Ambassadors On-Demand. ECA reserved the right to adjust countries, participant numbers, program configurations, and budgets according to program needs, current events, and available funds. ECA also retained final authority over participant selection.

Funding by program option

The overall award range in the front matter describes the competition as a whole. The NOFO also gave planning amounts for its individual options: approximately $1,500,000 for Africa, $600,000 for East Asia and Pacific, $450,000 for Europe and Eurasia, $450,000 for Middle East and North Africa, $300,000 for South and Central Asia, $2,100,000 for the Western Hemisphere, up to $1,654,000 for Youth Ambassadors-USA, and up to $900,000 for On-Demand. Those amounts sum to the approximately $7,954,000 total listed in the announcement, subject to funding availability and ECA’s authority to revise budgets.

The regional designs were not interchangeable. The Africa option anticipated exchanges for about 100 international youth and adult mentors plus about 50 U.S. participants. East Asia and Pacific anticipated about 40 international participants and 20 American participants. Europe and Eurasia was aimed at participants ages 18–22 and did not include adult mentors; its proposed arts focus could include filmmaking, literature, music, performing arts, or visual arts. Middle East and North Africa anticipated one or two single-country exchanges. South and Central Asia anticipated about 20 international youth and adult mentors and 10 U.S. participants. The Western Hemisphere option anticipated larger cohorts, while the Youth Ambassadors-USA option focused on recruiting U.S. youth and adult mentors for domestic and international exchanges. On-Demand was intended to let ECA respond to evolving priorities and major events.

These figures were planning assumptions in the NOFO, not guaranteed awards or participant quotas. The notice made funding contingent on availability and stated that issuing the notice did not commit the government to make an award.

Eligibility and capacity requirements

The official eligibility section identified two broad applicant groups: U.S. not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society or nongovernmental organizations, and U.S. not-for-profit public and private educational institutions. The Grants.gov record also categorizes nonprofit and higher-education applicants, but the NOFO is the controlling source for the detailed requirements.

Every applicant needed a Unique Entity Identifier issued through SAM.gov and an active SAM.gov registration. The registration had to remain active while a proposal was under review and throughout the performance period if an award resulted. The NOFO warned that obtaining or renewing registration could take four to eight weeks, which made early registration a practical requirement for any future competition.

ECA’s grant guidelines required at least four years of experience conducting international exchanges for awards above $130,000. Because every anticipated Youth Ambassadors award was at least $300,000, applicants needed to demonstrate four years of international-exchange experience in the proposal. They also needed to show experience with the relevant participant population and region, including exchange work with high school students, or college students for the Europe and Eurasia option.

There was no required matching contribution. That did not remove the need for a credible, auditable budget. Applicants had to explain how costs were calculated and how participant and non-participant costs supported the proposed exchange. A proposal also needed to address safeguarding, logistics, staffing, recruitment, preparation, host-family or other participant-support arrangements, contingency planning, alumni engagement, and follow-on project development.

What the competition sought

The central theme was youth leadership. ECA’s stated goals were to prepare young people to become responsible and engaged citizens, build international partnerships, and deepen understanding of U.S. culture, history, and civic principles. The objectives included strengthening adaptability, critical thinking, communication, problem solving, resilience, and other entrepreneurial or leadership skills; developing program-planning and implementation skills; and using technology, including artificial intelligence, to solve challenges effectively.

The AI language did not turn the opportunity into a technology grant. It asked applicants to show how American AI concepts, resources, strategies, or tools could be used creatively within age-appropriate leadership programming. A strong proposal still needed a coherent exchange design, substantive interaction between American and international participants, meaningful community engagement, and a realistic path to participant-led projects after the exchange.

The notice expected participants to live with host families for part of the exchange where applicable and encouraged applicants to make the homestay experience substantive. Adult participants required programming of their own, including some activities separate from youth programming, so that adult mentors could build leadership and mentoring skills with counterparts. Proposals also needed to explain how the implementing organization would work with ECA, regional bureaus, embassies, consulates, and other award recipients.

Application contents and process for historical reference

Because the FY 2026 deadline has passed, the steps below are useful only for understanding the closed competition or preparing for a future notice. They are not a route to submit a late FY 2026 application.

1. Read the complete solicitation package. The package included the FY 2026 Youth Ambassadors NOFO, Proposal Submission Instructions, and the ECA performance monitoring materials. The applicant needed to use the NOFO and PSI together; the notice warned that failure to follow either could make a proposal technically ineligible.

2. Confirm organization and registration eligibility. The applicant needed an eligible U.S. nonprofit or U.S. nonprofit educational institution, a UEI, and an active SAM.gov registration. The legal name and EIN on the SF-424 and supporting documents defined the applicant organization.

3. Choose a program option. An organization could apply for multiple options, but it had to file a separate proposal for each one. Proposals could not combine two options, and the selected option had to be identified clearly and early in the executive summary. Only one proposal per applicant organization and program option would be considered.

4. Prepare the required core forms and narrative. The required package included an SF-424, a one-page executive summary, a proposal narrative, an SF-424A budget, a detailed line-item budget, and a budget narrative. The narrative needed to connect the selected option to the youth-leadership theme, program objectives, participant plan, staffing, partnerships, risk controls, monitoring, alumni work, and follow-on projects.

5. Add supporting materials. The NOFO requested a detailed exchange-activity schedule, letters of endorsement from significant implementation partners or sub-award recipients, resumes or CVs for staff and proposed key personnel, and first-time-applicant attachments when applicable. Appendices were to be limited to material directly relevant to the design.

6. Submit through Grants.gov. Applications had to be submitted electronically through Grants.gov. For the closed round, the complete application had to be uploaded by July 17, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Washington, DC time. The system generated submission and receipt records, and applicants were advised to begin well ahead of the deadline because transmission problems or missing attachments could affect technical eligibility.

The official listing named Ashraf Sarsour in ECA’s Office of Citizen Exchanges, Youth Programs Division, as the program contact and provided [email protected] for questions about the announcement. The NOFO also listed 703.628.2288. Those contact details belong to the closed FY 2026 competition; they should be rechecked against a later official notice before anyone uses them for a new application.

What readers should do now

Readers looking for a live grant should not apply through this page. The FY 2026 competition is closed, and the official record reviewed for this update does not announce a replacement deadline. Organizations that want to pursue the program later can use this entry to understand the scale of the awards, the eight-option structure, the exchange experience requirement, the registration lead time, and the expected application components. They should then locate a newly posted ECA or Grants.gov notice and use its deadline, eligibility language, forms, and contact information as the source of truth.

For archived planning, the most important preparation is institutional rather than individual: maintain an active SAM.gov registration, document at least four years of international-exchange delivery, retain evidence of safe youth-program operations, build relationships with regional partners, and keep a reusable framework for participant recruitment, homestays, adult-mentor programming, accessibility, travel contingencies, alumni engagement, and follow-on projects. A future competition may change countries, budgets, themes, or submission instructions, so none of those details should be copied forward without checking the new official notice.

Official source

• Official Grants.gov opportunity record

The record links to the FY 2026 Youth Ambassadors Programs NOFO, identifies the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as the agency, records the July 17, 2026 closing deadline, and lists the award amounts, eligibility categories, application process, and archive information used in this historical summary.