AGBU Young Professionals

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AGBU Young Professionals

The AGBU Young Professionals (YP) is a global network of Armenians looking to make a difference.

The only Armenian network of its kind spanning five continents, AGBU YPs make Armenian communities around the world thriving, better places to live through civic involvement and international cooperation. AGBU YP is part of the world's largest Armenian nonprofit organization, AGBU (www.agbu.org or https://www.facebook.com/agbu.org). For news and event information about AGBU YP Groups & YP Partners

08/24/2026

With the onset of World War II, AGBU had to suspend operations and distributions of funds from its headquarters in Europe. The Central Board, under the leadership of the fourth president Arshag Karagheusian, made the strategic decision to transfer trusts and reassign administrative operations to New York, which would allow subsidies to schools and chapters across the globe to continue. By the end of WWII, AGBU had officially moved its headquarters to the United States with an international base of board members at the helm.

08/17/2026

Under the leadership of AGBU’s 2nd president, Calouste Gulbenkian, AGBU began on a new humanitarian strategy to invest in operations closing down refugee camps and permanently relocating them to new neighborhoods in Syria and Lebanon. AGBU developed infrastructure and housing in regions including Ashrafiye, Bourdj Hammoud, and Alexandretta - all of which continue to be thriving Armenian districts today.

08/10/2026

After helping establish critical medical and educational institutions, AGBU’s next project was to build model farms and agricultural schools in Yeghvart and Dalma. Similar investments continued in various neighborhoods, with the most ambitious project being the establishment of Nubarashen, an entirely new village outside of Yerevan conceived by Boghos Nubar and designed by Alexander Tamanian to welcome new waves of immigration to Armenia. Construction of the homes and factories, the school, the hospital, and the theater of Nubarashen began in 1931. By 1936, AGBU had invested $417,000 in the project, but was forced to abandon progress a year later at the height of the Stalinist purges. To this day, Nubarashen stands as a suburb of Yerevan.

08/03/2026

Founded as the Near East Relief’s Youth League in 1931, AGBU took charge of AYA upon the request of Catholicos Papken I of the Holy See of Cilicia. The AYA promoted national cohesion through cultural, sports, scouting and social activities for youth and young adults and flourished throughout the Middle East, producing men and women who would proudly go on to lead Armenian communities worldwide later in life.

07/27/2026

Identifying the critical need to invest in infrastructure and establish healthcare facilities to advance public health and improve quality of life in the homeland, AGBU donors established funds to support these efforts coordinated by Haygaz Karageuzian, AGBU’s representative in Soviet Armenia. Within a short period of time, AGBU established the Tarouhi Hagopian Maternity Ward (including a school for midwives), the Marie Noubar Eye Clinic, the Aved Sarkis Rabies Clinic in Yerevan, and supported the State University of Yerevan.

07/20/2026

According to an order passed in 1923 by officials in Soviet Armenia, AGBU became the only all-Armenian benevolent organization allowed to function there with the initial intention to build model farms and agricultural schools and to repatriate communities back to the homeland. Faced with a bleak economic situation and famine, AGBU initiated deliveries of medicine, food and clothing. Over the next 14 years, AGBU worked to provide for the common good: building infrastructure, contributing to rural development, and offering education and care to orphans.
Through AGBU's efforts to repatriate survivors of the Genocide, approximately 17,000 refugees returned to Armenia from Europe and the Middle East. It was during this time that AGBU also played a vital role in organizing the transfer of the remains of Komitas to Armenia.

07/13/2026

While AGBU invested in schools throughout the Ottoman villages in the earliest years, the 1920s saw a shift to providing opportunities for higher education to students living throughout the world. By the early 1930s, access to universities and colleges through AGBU scholarships would change the lives of thousands of bright Armenians through the years and ultimately impact personal professional success and community growth in new ways.

07/06/2026

Integrating elder students and adult orphans into society became a priority for AGBU in the decade after the Genocide. Vocational training for men allowed countless individuals to master trades and apprentice in different crafts. Women and girls were taught tailoring skills, placed with affluent families or cared for in specific girls’ facilities to be educated. Schools and boarding facilities were established throughout the region including Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Lebanon, Syria and beyond.

06/29/2026

As an initiative of AGBU President Boghos Nubar, the “Bibliothèque nationale arménienne de Paris” was established in 1928 to gather and preserve the heritage of Ottoman Armenians. It is housed in a building designed and built by Armenians, including architect Levon Nalfiyan, and remains there today in Paris's 16th arrondissement. It was initially entrusted to Aram Andonian, a journalist and scholar who miraculously survived a number of arrests and deportation orders by Talat Pasha.

Andonian described and maintained the library as not only “a home for Armenian and Oriental studies, open not only to the many friends of the Armenian nation and French and Armenian scholars interested in these studies”, but also as “a meeting place for Armenian and other intellectuals, who, in addition to reading, deal with the most pressing needs of the Armenian nation and issues of interest to Armenian life.” The library was renamed the Nubar Library after AGBU’s first president upon his passing in 1930 and remains active today.

To learn more about AGBU and its storied history, visit the Linktree in our bio.

06/22/2026

Remaining focused on the education of refugee children, AGBU maintained and subsidized orphanages and schools across the Near East, providing children and young adults with both conventional education and vocational training-shoemaking and
woodworking, embroidery-to help them become self-sufficient as adults. Those managing these schools and orphanages strategically chose skills needed in the region, but also played to the ability of the youth being served.

For example, in Jerusalem, the AGBU Araradian Orphanage had 40 young men and boys whose talents were trained to form a brass band. On a visit to Jerusalem in 1924, Haile Selassie—heir to the Ethiopian throne–heard the orphans and immediately invited them to enter his country's service. Upon moving to Ethiopia, the young men formed the Imperial Brass Band and became jewels of the Ethiopian Empire.

Address

55 E 59th Street
New York, NY
10022

Telephone

+12123196383

Website

https://agbuyp.org/, https://instagram.com/agbuypglobal?igshid=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA%3D%3D

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