Organized by Foreign Service Youth Foundation
Help FSYF Help Kids of Families Serving the US
The Foreign Service Youth Foundation (FSYF) needs your help. We are working to raise $5000 in funding to support our programs that benefit the “Third Culture Kids” of US civilian agency families who serve the United States overseas, including through specialized events and workshops, merit-focused contests, and scholarships.
Who we are:
Established in 1989, FSYF is the only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to the support of children of employees of the US civilian foreign affairs agencies – many of whom spend two-thirds of their careers overseas -- including the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, Agriculture, and Defense plus the U.S. Agency for International Development. These families serve at 270 diplomatic missions around the world.
Who we help:
- Growing up in the Foreign Service, including frequent moves between the US and abroad, can be tough. These “Third Culture kids” (TCKs) sometimes have a hard time answering the seemingly simple question, “Where are you from?” As one explained, “All my life, I’ve belonged somewhere and nowhere. I’ve come from neither here nor there, and yet I’m from everywhere.”
- While an internationally mobile childhood can provide benefits like expanding a young person’s view of the world and deepen their maturity, it can also present real challenges – including confused cultural identities, and difficulties adjusting to new environments and feelings of rootlessness due to repeatedly leaving homes, schools, friends, and countries.
How we help:
- The FSYF is dedicated to helping these young people adapt to changing environments as they transition between the US and postings worldwide, and back again. Two-thirds of these overseas posts are at locations where crime, pollution, climate, isolation, terrorism, or other factors cause them to be classified as hardship postings.
- We work to help TCKs by encouraging resilience, fostering camaraderie, and celebrating achievements. FSYF organizes specialized in-person and online events supporting cultural and educational transitions; organizes workshops addressing transition and education challenges and opportunities; sponsors contests that foster creativity and resilience in a global context; and offers college scholarship programs recognizing merit and possibility.
- While officially recognized by the Department of State as a partner organization, FSYF is fully funded by private donors.
- The difficulties of the last two years have challenged us all. We need your help this Fall and Winter to help fund our programs, including the Academic Merit Awards scholarship program, now in its eighth year. 100% of the funding will go toward events, workshops, and scholarships supporting Third Country Kids.
For more about FSYF and our work to support young Americans who live between many cultures, please visit: https: //www.fsyf.org
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