Cultural Vistas Awarded Grant to Administer German Portion of Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals

BERLIN - Feb. 18, 2020 - PRLog -- Cultural Vistas is pleased to announce it has been awarded a grant from the German Bundestag to administer the German portion of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) for Young Professionals, the Parlamentarisches Patenschafts-Programm für junge Berufstätige (PPP), effective beginning the 2021-2022 program cycle.

"This grant will allow Cultural Vistas to strengthen synergies between its European and U.S. operations," said William Maier, Cultural Vistas' Senior European Office Director. "After more than 37 years of administering the U.S. side of the program, we look forward to expanding our professional exchange programming through this new opportunity."

Cultural Vistas Inc. has served as the sole U.S. administrator for the young professional portion of this cornerstone U.S.-German exchange program since its inception in 1983, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of State. Its Berlin-based affiliate office, Cultural Vistas gGmbH, will manage the new grant provided by the German Bundestag.

CBYX is a scholarship program jointly funded and administered by the governments of the United States and Germany.  CBYX provides year-long academic, internship, homestay, and community service opportunities for American and German high school students, vocational school graduates, and young professionals.

The program is designed to strengthen ties between youth, improve their career skills through formal study and work experience, and expand their perspectives and awareness of each other's culture, society, history and politics.  Volunteer host families, schools, and communities across the United States and Germany all play a key role in achieving the program success.

Cultural Vistas expresses its deepest gratitude to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the implementing partner of CBYX for Young Professionals on the German side of the program, for its close collaboration on the program over the past 36 years. Both GIZ and their predecessors have made the program what it is today, providing support thousands of participants with passion and commitment.

The origins of the CBYX date back to October 1983 when West German President Karl Carstens and U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced its formation at celebrations of the 300th tri-centennial of German immigration to the United States.

Since that time, over 23,000 young people from the U.S. and Germany have taken part in this reciprocal exchange, with countless more citizens in host families, schools, and communities sharing in this exchange and experiencing its impact.

Learn more about CBYX at cbyx.info.