Welcome

"The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange program is one of the essential elements of the US-Germany bond by strengthening the deep ties of friendship and understanding between our two peoples. For the young people who participate, it offers an extraordinary opportunity to learn about the world, gain a deeper understanding of people and issues, build lifelong skills and expand their horizons." - U.S. Senator Richard Lugar

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange was initiated in 1983 by the United States Congress and the German Bundestag in celebration of the 300th anniversary of the first German immigration to North America. The exchange program conveys the importance of common values, mutual acceptance and lasting personal relationships to young Americans and Germans.

Since 1983, almost 15,000 young people have participated, approximately 2,500 of them young professionals. By extension, these participant numbers multiply into 15,000 hosting families, 75,000 high school classrooms in which a Congress-Bundestag student has been seated, and as many as 100,000 company personnel who have known a Congress-Bundestag young professional or vocationalist.

In later years German and American program alumni will very likely host their former host family in their hometown, they are three-times more likely to exhibit life-long professional learning than their peers who did not participate, and they are five times more likely than those same peers to continue to travel internationally for professional and personal reasons. In short, program members participate in the life of their host country, and are changed by the experience.

On the occasion of the program's 20th anniversary, the State Department generously dedicated financial resources to develop cbyx.net - a comprehensive alumni website for all the participants of the CBYX program since 1983. The purpose of this website is to help support the American alumni of CBYX by providing them with a platform to share their experiences, to easily communicate with one another, to enhance networking activities and promote events and to maintain their involvement in the program following their year in Germany.