Fifty Mandela Fellows, who will be participating in programs at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University and the School of Business at Clark Atlanta University, will be hosted by the city of Atlanta and its Office of Film and Entertainment at a welcome reception Tuesday evening where they will learn of the city’s growth as a center for the film industry.

The fellows are participating in the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) that President Obama launched in 2010, which selects 500 Africans between the ages of 25-35 annually from 50,000 applications to follow courses in a variety of disciplines at leading academic institutions around the country.

Participants, now called Mandela Fellows after Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa from 1994-99 and independence leader, are enrolled in one of three areas: business and entrepreneurship; civic leadership; or public management for the six-week course.

Last year Clark Atlanta hosted 25 YALIs in a landmark program here that was selected once again from many competing academic institutions. This year is the first for the Andrew Young School to host a YALI contingent.

Only 100 of the 500 Africans selected will follow their training programs from June 19-Aug. 1 with a pre-arranged internship at a U.S.-based company.

LaRonda Sutton, director of the Mayor’s Office of Film and Entertainment, and James Andrews, founder of the True Story Agency, which specializes in innovative storytelling across various media, will provide an overview of the growth of the industry in the city.

The reception is to be held at the Nebo Agency LLC on Marietta Street from 6:30 p.m.