FY 2026 Community Engagement Exchange
This cooperative agreement funds design and delivery of a two-way international exchange and training program for emerging civic leaders, including U.S. professional placements and reciprocal visits focused on free speech and community engagement.
⚑ Eligibility not specified in the excerpt; see full NOFO. · Cooperative agreement with substantial federal program involvement likely. · Two-way exchange program for approximately 30-40 foreign participants and 15-20 Americans. · Includes four- to five-week U.S. professional placements and reciprocal travel.
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| IPPRA | 54 partial | outside portfolio topics; signature methods: community engaged; social/behavioral work is central; funds training education, not research (capped); eligibility unclear — verify in the NOFO |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 0 none | no commercialization signal |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 0 none | technical depth: none; funds training education (capped) |
Description
The Global Leaders Division in the Office of Citizen Exchanges at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) seeks proposals for a cooperative agreement to design and implement the FY 2026 Community Engagement Exchange (CEE). CEE is a two-way exchange initiative for approximately 30-40 emerging civic leaders (ages 22-27), from Europe and Eurasia, that provides skill-based training, hands-on activities, and practical application of one of the First Amendment’s most fundamental rights: the freedom of speech. Grounded in the enduring principles of the U.S. Constitution, CEE equips participants with the skills to promote free speech, reduce conflict and strengthen community engagement. CEE participants will work alongside American counterparts in a substantive six- to eight-week exchange program, including a four-to five-week individually tailored professional placement in a U.S. organization, designed to cultivate practical First Amendment (1A) skills. Approximately 15–20 Americans will travel on reciprocal visits, co-designed with CEE participants, that showcase America’s leadership, promote free speech, and create opportunities for sustained collaboration. CEE advances U.S. foreign policy by strengthening the free speech and community engagement, promoting constructive public discourse, and fostering international partners equipped to address complex challenges in alignment with U.S. interests. CEE is supported by Pawel Adamowicz supplemental funding.
Please see the Notice of Funding Opportunity for additional information.
Eligibility
Please see full announcement.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: Bureau Of Educational and Cultural Affairs <allisonle@state.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · Federal (generic) conventions SEE A FEDERAL EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — Federal (generic)'s document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.
Legacy IPPRA LLM assessment (v2.0, for comparison)
17/100 · gpt-5.4-mini · 2026-07-06
This is a State Department exchange program focused on civic leadership, free speech, and international relationship-building, not a research solicitation. It has some indirect national security relevance through public diplomacy and democratic resilience, but there is no substantial social science research, survey, evaluation, or policy-analysis component for IPPRA to lead. Eligibility also appears to be governed by the full announcement, and these ECA exchange awards are often restricted to designated exchange implementers rather than open university research applicants.
Legacy scoring history
| 2026-07-06 | 17 | gpt-5.4-mini | This is a State Department exchange program focused on civic leadership, free speech, and international relationship-building, not a research solicitation. It has some indirect national security relevance through public diplomacy and democratic resilience, but there is no substantial social science research, survey, evaluation, or policy-analysis component for IPPRA to lead. Eligibility also appears to be governed by the full announcement, and these ECA exchange awards are often restricted to designated exchange implementers rather than open university research applicants. |
| 2026-07-06 | 18 | gpt-5.4-mini | This is an international exchange and civic leadership program centered on First Amendment/free speech and community engagement, not a research opportunity in weather, energy, health, or environmental policy. IPPRA’s survey, risk-communication, and policy-analysis strengths are not a clear match, and there is no obvious technical or behavioral research component for the institute to lead. As a State Department cooperative agreement, a public university may be eligible in principle, but the fit remains tangential and below core portfolio relevance. |