Host families
You need a teen, a spare bed, and a flexible July.
That's genuinely most of it. If you have a 14- to 16-year-old and room for one more at the table, you can do this.
- You don't need to be religious. There are no religious requirements for American families — only an openness to visiting other people's houses of worship.
- You don't need to chaperone. Parents aren't required at daily activities. Most of our parents work. Carpools get the teens where they need to be.
- Delaware teens and families gain real value too. This isn't one-sided hospitality — your teen comes away with documented volunteer and service hours, cross-cultural leadership experience, and relationships that no classroom can replicate. What your family gets ↓
- Service hours accumulate fast. Structured service projects run through the full month, and UPD activities continue into the fall and winter — most Delaware participants finish the year with more volunteer hours than a full semester of community service can offer. Every hour is documented.
- The fee is $225. It covers out-of-town transportation, admissions, t-shirts, and keepsakes.
- Existing commitments aren't automatically a dealbreaker. The month is demanding and many activities can't run alongside it, but if your teen already has something on the calendar, tell us early — we've made exceptions and will try to work around it. Start with a conversation, not an assumption.
- Your family is screened too. Hosting involves an application, a conversation with a coordinator, and the background checks the program requires. It's straightforward, and we'll walk you through every step.
- Applications are open right now. Parents complete the host family application and your teen completes the teen application. Matching happens in the spring for the July that follows.
For Delaware parents
Honest question: what does my family get out of this?
Fair to ask. Hosting is generous, but it isn’t charity — the Delaware teens are participants, not hosts-in-waiting, and four weeks of this program changes them in ways that show up for years.
For your teen
Fourteen to sixteen is the window when a kid decides what kind of person they’re going to be. This month puts real material in front of them.
- They’re responsible for someone. For four weeks your teen is the matched partner of a visitor who’s counting on them — guide, roommate, and translator of everything American. Discussion nights on identity and reconciliation put them in the conversation, not in the audience. That is a different thing from showing up to camp.
- They talk about hard things with people who lived them. Religion, history, what it means to grow up on one side of a divided town. Most adults never have that conversation. Your teen will have it at your kitchen table.
- Service hours that mean something. Structured service projects run all month and UPD activity continues through fall and winter. Every hour is documented — and unlike most volunteer hours, these come with a story a teen can actually tell.
- Something real to write about. When the time comes for personal essays, scholarship applications, and interviews, the question is always the same: tell me about a time you did something that mattered. Our alumni have an answer. The interviewers who hear it tend to remember it.
- A network on two continents. A best friend in Portadown, a place to stay in Northern Ireland, and a fifty-year alumni community in Delaware who look out for each other.
- Independence with a safety net. Four weeks of responsibility for another person, inside a structure built by adults who’ve done this since 1976. They grow up a little — while you can still watch it happen.
For you
You’re the one signing up. Here is what the month is like from the parent side.
- A summer with a plan. Every day has a schedule someone else built. Carpools are shared. Group leaders run the activities. July is no longer the month you wonder what your kid is doing.
- You get a front-row seat. Sleepaway programs send your teen off and hand them back changed. This one happens in your house. You see the growth while it’s happening, and you’re part of the conversations that cause it.
- Your whole household is in it. Siblings, grandparents, whoever is at dinner. Families tell us the younger kids remember the month as vividly as the teen who was matched.
- A community of parents. Twelve Delaware families go through the same July together. Those friendships tend to outlast the program by a long way.
- A second family across the ocean. Most host families stay in touch with their Northern Irish teen’s family for years. A surprising number end up visiting.
- Low cost, transparent numbers. $225 for the program. No surprise fees, no fundraising quotas, no gear to buy.
Why it sticks
The teens who do this don’t describe it as a program they attended. They describe it as the summer they figured out they could handle things — a stranger in their house, a hard conversation, a room full of people waiting for them to speak. That confidence is the return. Everything it opens up later is downstream of it.
Delaware teens are 14–16 at the time of the program. Matching happens in spring for the following July.Questions
What families ask us first
If your question isn't here, email info@ulsterprojectdelaware.org and a person will answer.
How much time does this actually take?
For the teen, all four weeks. The program is built on the group being together, so Scouts, sports, camps, jobs, and youth group generally can't run alongside it — it's a serious commitment and we're upfront about that.
That said, it isn't a flat no. If your teen has a commitment already on the calendar — a week of band camp, a standing shift, a family trip, a tournament — tell us early and we will try to work around it. We have made exceptions before. Bring us the conflict and let's talk it through rather than assuming it disqualifies you.
For parents, much less. You're not required to chaperone or attend daily activities. There are evening and weekend events you're welcome at, and carpools handle the rest.
Who's supervising the teens day to day?
Two adult leaders travel with the group from Northern Ireland, and two more are drawn from Delaware — all four are with the teens for the full month, not just the big trips. Think of them as the on-the-ground staff who run activities, handle logistics, and are the first call if anything comes up, the same role a trusted camp counselor plays, but for four weeks instead of two.
Host families handle everyday supervision the same way they would for their own teen, and every host household goes through an interview before being matched. The program itself is run by an executive director with a decade of youth-camp leadership background — see our leadership section for details.
Do we need to be religious?
No. The Northern Irish participants are Catholic or Protestant, but there are no religious qualifications for American families. Everyone is welcome, Christian or not, practicing or not.
The group does attend a Catholic Mass and a Protestant service, and visits a synagogue, a mosque, and a Quaker meetinghouse — so participants need to be open to being in other people's houses of worship and learning what they believe.
What does it cost?
Host families pay a $225 program fee, which covers transportation to out-of-town trips, all admission fees, t-shirts, and keepsakes.
What does our own teen get out of it?
Friends on the other side of an ocean, and a genuine understanding of a history, a religion, and a culture they'd otherwise only read about. The Northern Irish teens go home at the end of the month. The friendships don't.
Delaware teens also come away with a significant bank of documented volunteer and service hours. Service projects are woven through the full month, and involvement continues well past July for teens who stay active with UPD — most participants accumulate more hours in this program than a semester of required community service.
Beyond the hours, this is genuine cross-cultural leadership experience: navigating difference, building trust across divides, and taking real responsibility within a group. That's the kind of thing that goes far beyond a college application or a one-paragraph essay prompt — it shapes how young people move through the world.
Who are the teens staying in our house?
Teenagers selected by the Ulster Project committee in their own town in Northern Ireland, after a written application, interviews with them and their parents, and references. Places are limited and competitive — in past years, about one in five applicants has been accepted.
Two adult leaders from the same town travel with the group and stay for the month, so there is always additional supervision beyond the host families.
How do we apply?
Applications are open now, and there are two forms: parents fill out the host family application, and your teen fills out the teen application. We’ll follow up to walk you through the interview and screening. We match families and teens in the spring for the July that follows.