The Office of Citizen Exchanges of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is offering the FY 2024 National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) Program grant to foster critical foreign language learning among American youth.

The Office of Citizen Exchanges of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) announces an open competition for one cooperative agreement for the FY 2024 National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program. NSLI-Y increases the number of American youth (ages 15 to 18) who learn critical foreign languages in support of strengthening national security, building mutual understanding, and preparing for the global economy. NSLI-Y offers overseas summer and academic year programs, as well as 10-week virtual programs (Virtual NSLI-Y) for beginners. U.S. public and private non-profit organizations, meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3), may submit proposals to cooperate with ECA in the overall administration of NSLI-Y organizational responsibilities and the implementation of overseas summer and academic year language programs for approximately 535 participants, and virtual programs for approximately 200 participants, according to the guidance detailed in this NOFO. Overseas NSLI-Y program activities funded by this award will take place during summer 2025 and academic year 2025-2026 in locations where Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian (Tajiki or Farsi), Russian, and Turkish are widely used in everyday life. Virtual NSLI-Y programs will take place online during the 2025-26 academic year. In addition, the award supports programming for NSLI-Y and Virtual NSLI-Y alumni of all program years. The award recipient will manage the comprehensive organizational and administrative responsibilities of this program and will identify qualified sub-award recipients to implement many of the overseas language programs. Please see the full announcement for additional information.