Young Leaders Initiative

Young Leaders Initiative Class of 2022

The 2024 ACFR Young Leaders Initiative took place
in Washington, DC,
on May 29-31 – 2024

ACFR seeks to expand the involvement of students from across our constituent Committees, in furtherance of ACFR’s mission: Serving the national security interests of the U.S. through constructive face-to-face dialogue between citizens and foreign policy experts and other professionals.

In response to Member Committees’ express desire to increase their engagement with young people, ACFR started the Young Leaders Initiative in 2018.

The centerpiece of the ACFR Young Leaders Initiative (YLI) is our Young Leaders Program in Washington, DC, for university-level students chosen by the Member Committees. The Program generally occurs in the third week of June and features 15-20 Young Leaders. Policy practitioners, experts, and officials at U.S. government agencies and other foreign policy institutions meet the Young Leaders in interactive “conference table” briefing sessions and share expertise and insights. A network of Young Leaders will aid each other in their career interests and support the ACFR family of committees.

The ACFR Young Leaders Initiative is organized by Erich Frankland from Casper, WY.

For some insight regarding the impact of the past programs, please see the YLI site at ACFR Young Leaders.

Young Leaders Program 2023

The fifth annual Young Leaders Program took place on May 31 and June 2, 2023. The 2023 program built on our successful past programs, featuring in-depth, conference table discussions with government officials, policy experts, and other leading voices on U.S. foreign policy.

Participants

General expectations for participants are that they are undergraduate or graduate university students who demonstrate high academic achievement, potential career interest in international affairs, and strong leadership qualities. The ACFR Local Committees suggest the Young Leaders and sponsor their participation.

Benefits

The benefits of this program have accrued both to the Young Leaders and to their sponsoring Committees. A number of Committees have featured their Young Leaders and/or have hosted some of the DC-based policy experts who have briefed our students. The Young Leaders themselves have published accounts in campus newspapers, taken on internships, made new contacts, provided a network for each other, and developed new perspectives from their experience. We look to continue garnering these benefits for the entire ACFR community.

Featuring: Young Leaders Program 2019

The YLI program of 2019 gives an idea of a typical contents. This second annual Young Leaders Program took place with full-day sessions on June 13 and 14, 2019. A total of 18 students convened in Washington, DC, for two days of immersion into hands-on aspects of American Foreign Policy.

2019 Agenda

In 2019, the agenda included:

• Department of State
  • Desk officer briefings
• US Institute of Peace
  • Conflict and resolution briefings
• Woodrow Wilson Center
  • Briefings: Amb. (ret.) Stapleton Roy, Kissinger Institute on China;
  • Joseph Dresen, Kennan Institute on Russia
• Heritage Foundation
  • Scholar briefings: foreign policy, cybersecurity, first principles, role of think tanks
• Trade and Development Briefings
  • Trade and development briefings; trade negotiation simulation
• Dinner with a Diplomat
  • Amb. (ret.) Earl Anthony Wayne