The Foreign Service Journal, March 2022

74 MARCH 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS AFSA Outreach: Looking Back and Planning Ahead Last year was one of robust programming and growth for AFSA outreach. We’ve increased AFSA’s presence on social media, connected with new audi- ences throughout the country, devised new ways to tell the story of the Foreign Service, and maintained our outreach relationships with the Road Scholar and Chau- tauqua programs. In fact, in feedback surveys after the Chautauqua pro- gram in October, participants gave it the highest-recorded score of any Road Scholar program hosted at the New York institution. Credit goes to the AFSAmember speakers who participated. Launched in 2021, AFSA’s two virtual speaker series— Inside Diplomacy and Diplo- mats at Work—have reached thousands of viewers. Inside Diplomacy, geared toward a globally engaged audience, features experts discussing current policy issues as they relate to the Foreign Service. Last year, guests included USAID Administrator Samantha Power and U.S. Global Leader- ship Coalition President Liz Schrayer. Diplomats at Work intro- duces new, younger audi- ences to the FS and features active-duty members sharing the work they do. The videos from both series are available at afsa.org/video. Through these programs, AFSA reached students from 122 different colleges and universities across 35 states. We created an outreach news- letter to share our news and programs with this audience. Also in 2021, our partner- ship with “The American Dip- lomat” podcast, (amdipsto- ries.org ) yielded 12 episodes featuring AFSAmembers. Guests included six active- duty and two retired mem- bers who spoke on topics relating to their life and work in the Foreign Service. Several authors were also among the guests. AFSA will continue to support the podcast in 2022 as an official sponsor. Our 2022 outreach efforts are now underway, centering on the new campaign “Why I Serve.”We are planning more virtual and in-person events, podcast episodes, social media campaigns and oppor- tunities to engage with new and diverse audiences. We are also continuing our partnership with the Uma Chapman Cox Foundation to support our outreach and education programs. Thank you to AFSAmem- bers who have participated in these program. To join the outreach speaker roster, please contact Nadja Ruzica at ruzica@afsa.org or fill out the form at afsa.org/speakers- bureau. n