At the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, we provide lawful permanent residents with the support they need to be successful on their path to citizenship. It is a privilege to work with these aspiring citizens, and we now continue to have an even greater ability to assist those in our local community through another generous grant from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
We are one of 65 organizations across the country to receive this competitive grant award. The funding we will receive, totaling $450,000, to continue to support and enhance our citizenship preparation services for the next two years. This funding does not include almost $50,000 in kind volunteer hours dedicated from NY Cares volunteers to support the citizenship instruction program. We are very grateful for an increase in funding for the first time in ten years and for the support of our elected officials, including Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand and Congresswoman Meng.
The Center has always placed great emphasis on American citizenship and civic engagement and we see empowerment, integration and participation as vital factors in the well-being of the community we serve. We are very grateful and proud to have received funding over the past twelve years and for the next two years from the USCIS Office of Citizenship to provide legal assistance and instruction to those seeking to become U.S. citizens. The additional funding will allow us to continue to provide our educational and legal assistance to 880 needy lawful permanent residents through multi-level classes led by trained instructors and direct legal assistance in understanding and filing for naturalization.
This is the fifteenth year USCIS has awarded grants to expand the availability of high-quality citizenship preparation services for lawful permanent residents across the nation. There are over 370,000 lawful permanent residents living in the greater New York City metropolitan area currently eligible to naturalize and more than 70,000 living in Queens alone. With this USCIS grant, our efforts will have a larger impact in helping some of our fellow community members achieve their dream of U.S. citizenship. By helping immigrants improve their English language skills and learn about our country’s history and government, and the rights and responsibilities that define citizenship, we will help them civically integrate – and that’s good for us all.
Below: The EIIC recently hosted a Citizenship Classes Orientation in Queens, at which NYS Assemblymember Steven Raga was in attendance. Some students of the Citizenship program spoke, by way of encouragement to new students, about their successes in obtaining U.S. citizenship thanks to the preparation provided by EIIC. We thank Assemblymember Raga for attending this event and we thank Representative Meng for her gracious support of our work.
EIIC Drector of Immigation Legal Services John Stahl, Esq., joins NYS Assemblymember Steve Raga at EIIC’s recent Citizenship Program Orientation night in Queens. Below, Citizenship Program student Manuel Lema shares some encouraging words with the new students, based on his experience of having obtained U.S. Citizenship.
Should you have friends or family in need of support related to the citizenship process, please let us know in a reply to this email and we will follow up! For questions about our citizenship educational program or to enroll, email coordinator@eiic.org.