New Course, New Location! Women Leading Together

The au pair program has always been about more than childcare. At its core, it's a cultural exchange: a federal program designed to give young people from around the world a genuine immersive experience in American life, and to give American families and communities a window into the wider world. That mission, however, has traditionally played out mostly within the walls of a host family’s home. But our new course is changing that.

Women Leading Together, hosted on the campus of The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), is the first APW course to bring au pairs and American college students together in the same classroom. Through a partnership with TCNJ's Women in Learning & Leadership (WILL) program, au pairs and US students will work side by side through workshops on cultural awareness, civic leadership, active listening, and cross-cultural negotiation. We’re not talking about a one-time mixer, or a cultural showcase. This is a true shared academic experience, built for real relationship-building. 

The benefits run in both directions. For au pairs, the course offers a rare chance at authentic campus life, making connections with U.S. students in a structured space to translate their unique cross-cultural experience into recognized leadership skills. (Plus, it’s a great way to earn 3 credits towards their educational requirement!)

For U.S. college students, it's an opportunity that most study abroad programs can't replicate: international perspective, right on their own campus, from peers who are actually living it. In a world where global fluency is increasingly valuable, that kind of exchange has real substance.

What makes this pairing so natural is that au pairs are already doing the hard work of leadership. Navigating life in a foreign country (communicating across difference, building trust with a new family, adapting quickly to unfamiliar systems) requires exactly the kind of intercultural competence and resilience that professional and civic leadership demands. Women Leading Together gives au pairs a structured opportunity to name those skills, deepen them alongside U.S. peers, and carry them forward, whether it's back home or wherever their path leads next.

If you or your au pair are interested, click here for more information or to register.