Charlotte To Receive $1.5M To Help Boost Naturalization Efforts

CHARLOTTE, NC — Charlotte is one of seven U.S. cities that will receive $1.5 million that will benefit local organizations provide the necessary resources to help legal permanent residents become U.S. citizens, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced on Friday.

The New Americans Campaign, which is a national network that provides legal services, provides assistance in helping residents gain citizenship that simplifies the naturalization process, the organization said in a news release.

Charlotte joins Akron, Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia, San Jose, and St. Paul as the cities that were selected to receive the funding from the foundation. Since being founded in 2011, the New Americans Campaign has assisted more than 500,000 permanent residents gain U.S. citizenship.

“Civic engagement is the bedrock of our representative democracy, and immigrants play a very important part in that process and in our communities,” Lilian Coral, Knight ’s director for national strategy and technology innovation said in a news release. “It has been a difficult few years for immigrants, but the New Americans Campaign provides new, promising opportunities for legal permanent residents.

"We’re thrilled to continue supporting the network as it uses innovative services to expand naturalization efforts and build more engaged communities, which is a core Knight mission. The Campaign helps these aspiring Americans to be a part of civic life.”

The group has set a goal of getting at least 8,500 new naturalization applications per year in the seven cities that will receive the $1.5 million.

“There are nearly nine million permanent residents living in the United States who contribute so much to our country but don’t enjoy full participation in our democracy,” Lucia Martel Dow, director of the New Americans Campaign said in the release. “Becoming a citizen gives people a powerful voice: power to vote and power to run for office. The New Americans Campaign educates immigrants about the process of becoming a citizen and one important step in helping people gain the voice and power denied to non-citizens.”