USCIS Awards Fiscal Year 2016 Citizenship and Integration Grants

Nearly $10 Million Will Expand Citizenship Preparation Services in 21 States

Introduction

On Sept. 1, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the award of nearly $10 million in grants under two competitive funding opportunities to 46 organizations to help permanent residents prepare and apply for U.S. citizenship. The organizations are located in 21 states and will receive funding through September 2018.

Background

Since it began in 2009, the USCIS Citizenship and Integration Grant Program has awarded a total of $63 million through 308 competitive grants to immigrant-serving organizations in 37 states and the District of Columbia. Now in its eighth year, the program has helped more than 156,000 permanent residents prepare for citizenship.

USCIS anticipates that approximately 25,000 permanent residents will receive citizenship preparation services by Sept. 30, 2018, as a result of the fiscal year (FY) 2016 awards issued through the grant program. An additional 12,000 permanent residents will be served under the ongoing FY 2015 program, which continues through Sept. 30, 2017.

The first grant opportunity supports organizations that provide citizenship instruction and naturalization legal services. The second opportunity, new this year, will support citizenship education programs at eligible community-based organizations, with no requirement to provide naturalization legal services. The second opportunity sought to encourage the expansion of the existing field of citizenship instruction programs, particularly those offered by small, community-based organizations that have not previously received a grant from USCIS.

Grant Recipient Organizations

Under the Citizenship Instruction and Naturalization Application Services funding opportunity, DHS-16-CIS-010-002, recipients are public or private nonprofit organizations with recent experience providing citizenship instruction and naturalization application services to permanent residents. The organizations include community and faith-based groups, public libraries, adult education organizations, and literacy organizations.

Under the Citizenship Instruction funding opportunity, DHS-16-CIS-010-001, recipients are public or private nonprofit organizations that are local in scope and service delivery area and that have at least one year experience providing ESL instruction in a classroom setting that follows a curriculum. The organizations include faith-based groups, and community and literacy organizations.

The FY 2016 recipient organizations serve both traditional immigrant destinations and new immigrant gateway cities in 21 states. The grant recipients will provide citizenship preparation services to approximately 25,000 permanent residents from more than 50 countries. The recipients represent:

• Seventeen of the top 20 states with the largest permanent resident populations (California, New York, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Connecticut, Ohio Minnesota and Colorado);
   
• Nine of the top 10 metropolitan areas with the most new permanent residents in the past 10 years (New York City; Los Angeles; Miami; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; San Francisco; Houston; Dallas-Fort Worth; and Boston); and

• Nine of the top 10 states with the most naturalizations over the last 10 years (California, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington).

FY 2016 Grant Recipients

Grant recipients (in alphabetical order):

DHS-16-CIS-010-002

Citizenship Instruction and Naturalization Application Services

Organization	Location
Access California Services	Anaheim, Calif.
Ansob Center for Refugees, Inc.	Astoria, N.Y.
Baltimore City Community College	Baltimore, Md.
Boat People SOS, Inc.	Houston, Texas
Brooklyn Public Library	Brooklyn, N.Y.
Catholic Charities of Central Texas	Austin, Texas
Catholic Charities of Dallas, Inc.	Dallas, Texas
Catholic Charities of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties	San Bernardino, Calif.
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa	Santa Rosa, Calif.
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Stockton	Stockton, Calif.
Catholic Migration Services, Inc.	Brooklyn, N.Y.
Central American Resource Center	Washington, D.C.
Chinese American Service League, Inc.	Chicago, Ill.
Church World Service, Inc.	Greensboro, N.C.
City of Littleton	Littleton, Colo.
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon	Portland, Ore.
Hartford Public Library	Hartford, Conn.
Hispanic Unity of Florida, Inc.	Hollywood, Fla.
Hope Community Center, Inc.	Apopka, Fla.
International Rescue Committee, Inc.	Glendale, Calif.
Jewish Family & Children's Service, Inc.	Pittsburgh, Pa.
Jewish Vocational Service of Metrowest, Inc.	East Orange, N.J.
La Casa de Don Pedro	Newark, N.J.
Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13	Lancaster, Pa.
Lutheran Social Services of Metropolitan New York	New York, N.Y.
Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota	Sioux Falls, S.D.
Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance	Minneapolis, Minn.
Nashville Adult Literacy Council, Inc.	Nashville, Tenn.
Neighborhood House, Inc.	Seattle, Wash.
Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights	New York, N.Y.
Polish American Association	Chicago, Ill.
Tacoma Community House	Tacoma, Wash.
The City University of New York	New York, N.Y.
United Methodist Cooperative Ministries/Suncoast, Inc.	Largo, Fla.
US Together	Columbus, Ohio
Young Men's Christian Association of the Greater Houston Area, Inc.	Houston, Texas

DHS-16-CIS-010-001

Citizenship Instruction

Organization	Location
Catholic Charities Community Services	New York, N.Y.
Chaldean Community Foundation	Sterling Heights, Mich.
Chinese Community Center, Inc.	Houston, Texas
Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services	Columbus, Ohio
Irish International Immigrant Center, Inc.	Boston, Mass.
Literacy Chicago	Chicago, Ill.
Literacy New Jersey	Edison, N.J.
Pacific Gateway Center	Honolulu, Hawaii
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Inc.	Colchester, Vt.
Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay	Oakland, Calif.

Review Process

As part of the grant review process, USCIS reviewed more than 160 eligible applications using three-member teams of internal reviewers to evaluate each proposal. In total, 51 USCIS reviewers participated in this process. The reviewers scored applications numerically using published evaluation criteria. USCIS rank ordered the applications under each funding opportunity based on their average scores. The USCIS internal review panel determined the final list of recipients based on the rank order as well as the published strategic program priorities found on page 34 of the notice of funding opportunity for DHS-16-CIS-010-002 and on page 25 of the notice of funding opportunity for DHS-16-CIS-010-001 (PDF).

Contact Information

For additional information on the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program, please contact the USCIS Office of Citizenship at citizenshipgrantprogram@uscis.dhs.gov or visit uscis.gov/grants.

To learn more about applying for federal funding opportunities, visit grants.gov or call 800-518-4726.