68 JULY-AUGUST 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA TERM REPORT the tentative advocacy agenda for the year ahead, and the advocacy midterm review for the Governing Board. In preparing the events’ agendas, PPI consulted board members, reviewed member survey feedback, and gathered background information from past meetings with agency principals. PPI also closely worked with the advocacy director to guide the choice of agenda items in the direction of clear congressional interest, so that if AFSA pursued reform solutions legislatively, there would be at least a fair chance of congressional support. PPI continued to refresh AFSA’s advocacy priorities via feedback from a continuing series of town halls, first- and second-tour (FAST) employee brown bags, employee group meetings, and engagement with agency management. Our state-level advocacy is a growing field within our larger advocacy portfolio. In Virginia, the issue of Foreign Service families’ experiences with school enrollment upon returning to Washington has just been successfully resolved. Virginia has required that any student coming from overseas (except those from military families) meet a physical residency requirement and overseas academic credits have often not been recognized—even programs like the International Baccalaureate that have internationally recognized curricula. With bipartisan support in the legislature, AFSA successfully advocated for Foreign Service families to benefit from an exemption similar to the military carve-out. This will ensure a smoother transition when they return to Virginia from overseas. Governor Glenn Youngkin signed this bill in April 2025. The first chaotic few months of the second Trump administration have led to a focus on nearly constant messaging to our members in response to destructive actions taken by political leadership. PPI has participated actively in crisis communications meetings and message preparation including weekly and special updates. During this period, our collaboration with the Office of the General Counsel deepened as we strove to provide accurate and comprehensive answers to our members on AFSA’s policy and legal advocacy. In general, AFSA is filling an information void left by foreign affairs agencies, which has required us to develop some expertise on previously unfamiliar issues and broadened AFSA’s ability to supply our members with relevant information critical to their Foreign Service careers. At the same time, in the wake of the executive order on union activity that cut off most direct contact with State’s Bureau of Global Talent Management, we’ve had to pivot to sending written messages to State leadership on key workforce issues including the treatment of USAID staff and proposed State human resource changes. Scholarships, Awards, and Plaques The AFSA Scholarship Program awarded $811,000 to the children of AFSA members during the 2023-2025 AFSA Governing Board term. This includes $300,000 provided for merit scholarships, which are awarded for academic, art, and community service achievement, and $511,000 in financial aid scholarships. Most of these funds came from the AFSA Scholarship Fund, with additional funding from DACOR, the Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (AAFSW), and several long-standing privately endowed funds. No AFSA member dues are used in the AFSA scholarship program, which has distributed more than $6.2 million to more than 3,000 youths. We rely on the help of upward of 40 members to serve as volunteer judges. AFSA merit scholarship winners are honored at the annual youth awards ceremony each summer hosted by the Foreign Service Youth Foundation. AFSA’s annual awards ceremony, held each year in October, honors constructive dissent and exemplary performance within the Foreign Service. Up to 12 awards are presented each year recognizing dissent and performance of our active-duty colleagues in addition to awards for family member volunteer initiatives, AFSA post representatives, and contributions to AFSA. Each year our Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy award recognizes an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the Foreign Service. The lifetime award recipients during this board term were Ambassadors (ret.) John Tefft (2023) and Marc Grossman (2024). AFSA maintains the memorial plaques in the C Street Lobby of the State Department honoring 321 individuals who died in service abroad. These names are commemorated each year during our memorial plaque ceremony held on Foreign Service Day, the first Friday in May.
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