On Sept. 17, Citizenship Day, the Office of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new initiative to help lawful permanent residents in New York become U.S. citizens.
The initiative, NYCitizenship, partners the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs with the New York Public Library system to provide information on citizenship, as well as legal assistance to help applicants complete their citizenship forms. The program also includes a financial education component.
The initiative was launched in conjunction with the city’s first “Citizenship Week of Action.” That initiative involved dozens of volunteers from faith, labor and community organizations who helped immigrants prepare their citizenship applications in the week leading up to National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 22.
City government’s partnership with the libraries expands on the recently launched “New Americans Corners.” This initiative — a partnership between USCIS, the libraries and the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs — includes a dedicated space for information on U.S. citizenship in every branch of the New York, Brooklyn and Queens libraries. Other resources include English as a Second Language and citizenship preparation classes, and materials to help naturalization applicants prepare for their citizenship interview.
NYCitizenship expands on the earlier initiative by providing legal assistance for naturalization applicants.
New Americans Campaign partners MinKwon Center for Community Action, Make the Road New York and the National Association for Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund joined the Mayor’s Office in announcing NYCitizenship on Citizenship Day.
The New York City initiative was part of a series of efforts to promote citizenship in cities across the U.S. that took place on or around Citizenship Day. The cities of Atlanta; Boston; Buffalo, N.Y.; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Denver; Houston; Los Angeles; New Brunswick, N.J.; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; St. Louis; San Francisco, San Jose, Calif.; and Seattle all conducted naturalization ceremonies or application workshops or launched new efforts to promote citizenship.