The 2011-2012 Eurasia FLEX Alumni Grants Program – Applications Online!

The Eurasia FLEX Alumni Office and American Councils for International Education are pleased to announce the launch of the FLEX Alumni Grants Program, funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The program assists past participants of the Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) of the program years 1994-2011 to implement projects, which contribute to the social, economic, and civic development of their countries. Apply online now!

The FLEX Alumni Grants Program gives alumni the opportunity to initiate social, economic, and civic development projects of their own design in their home countries. Some highlights from 2010-2011 include:

The Beat Film Festival's screenings at the 35mm Cinema Hall served as important education and cultural events to Muscovite youth. This year the festival gathered a strong program of high artistic level that drew serious media attention, which included coverage from major print and online newspapers such as Kommersant, Vedomosti, Vremya Novostei, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Gazeta.ru, RBC Daily as well as leading news agencies such as RIA Novosti, Lenta.ru. The festival presented several American movies, among them Hit So Hard: the Story of Patty Schemel, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, I Am Still Here, and many others. Alyona Bocharova '98 (Moscow, Russia) received a FLEX Alumni Grant for this project.

Nadezhda Pak '10 (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) organized a concert to raise money for the children at the Bishkek Cancer Center with funding from the FLEX Alumni Grant Program. The concert attracted the attention of people from a wide range of organizations (government organizations, NGOs) in addition to that of local youth who wanted to make positive change in the community and participate in social life. Many of these youth had already engaged with other projects organized by the concert team. The concert raised over $800 for the center. Alumni also organized a football game and picnic to raise additional funds for the center.

Interested alumni are encouraged to organize projects with FLEX and other U.S. Government alumni. Grants fall into two categories:

Group grants (up to $3000): to support professional development or teaching programs; community service activities; promotion of English language and American culture. Not all people participating in the group must be FLEX alumni, but the grant recipient and the project leader or co-leader must be a FLEX alumnus/a.

Individual grants (up to $250): to support community service projects, as well as personal or professional development projects (including attendance at conferences). Individual grant applicants who demonstrate in their proposals readiness to share their experience with others in their community upon completion will be given preference.

-Deadline to submit an application is February 28, 2012. Grant recipients will be announced in June 2012. Apply online.

- Eligibility: in order to participate in this program, alumni must (1) be successful participants of the FLEX program; (2) be in compliance with the two-year home residency requirement following the program; (3) update their information in the alumni database, which may be done at any American Councils office or electronically; (4) conduct their project and currently reside in one of the countries in which the FLEX program is administered; (5) alumni from Belarus and Uzbekistan are not eligible to receive grants.

- Alumni working as employees of American Councils or the U.S. government are not eligible to apply.

For more information, contact the FLEX Eurasia Alumni office at: flexgrants@americancouncils.ru