USCIS Announces Fiscal Year 2013 Grant Recipients on Constitution Day and Citizenship Day

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced the award of nearly $9.9 million in grants designed to prepare permanent residents for citizenship. Forty immigrant-serving organizations from 21 states will receive federal funding to support citizenship preparation services for permanent residents through September 2015.

Since the program began in October 2009, the USCIS Citizenship and Integration Grant Program has helped more than 66,000 permanent residents in 31 states and the District of Columbia prepare for citizenship. Through Sept. 30, 2015, USCIS anticipates that an additional 31,000 permanent residents will receive citizenship preparation services.

“There is a continued need for high-quality citizenship preparation services in communities across the country,” said USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas. “This funding will help thousands of permanent residents gain the support they need to learn English and civics, and embrace the important rights and responsibilities of United States citizenship.”

The Citizenship and Integration Grant Program is part of a multifaceted effort to support effective citizenship preparation services and provide information to immigrants and immigrant-serving organizations. USCIS complements this grant program with its Citizenship Resource Center, a centralized Web resource that provides learning materials to help permanent residents prepare for the naturalization process, and partnerships with federal and municipal agencies designed to raise awareness of the rights, responsibilities and importance of U.S. citizenship among the estimated 8.8 million permanent residents nationwide eligible to apply for naturalization.

This year’s announcement is part of USCIS’ celebration of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, commemorated every Sept. 17 in honor of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. In 1952, President Harry Truman signed a bill formalizing the celebration of Citizenship Day. In 2004, Congress established Sept. 17 as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.

For additional information on the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program, please visit www.uscis.gov/grants.