USCIS Announces a New Funding Opportunity Under the FY 2024 Citizenship and Integration Grant Program

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is announcing the opening of the application period for a new funding opportunity under the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program: the Citizenship and Integration Training Academy (CITA).

CITA is a technical assistance grant that will provide up to $2.6 million in funding to help organizations establish new citizenship programs and train new citizenship instructors.

• This grant opportunity will fund public or nonprofit organizations to establish and implement citizenship programs. USCIS expects to award up to seven organizations with a grant up to $400,000 each for a period of three years through this opportunity. 
• Applications can be filed starting May 15, and the deadline for submitting applications is July 12, 2024.
• USCIS will announce the recipients in September 2024. The three-year performance period for this funding opportunity will begin Oct. 1, 2024, and end Sept. 30, 2027.  

Since 2009, USCIS has offered funding opportunities under the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program to organizations with demonstrated experience overseeing citizenship education programs and preparing immigrants for citizenship through offering naturalization application services. 

Through CITA, USCIS will offer the first-ever funding opportunity for organizations, who have never received funding from USCIS, to receive rigorous training to develop new citizenship education programs. This grant also offers an optional component for funded organizations to pursue and establish a naturalization application services program staffed by two Department of Justice-accredited representatives.

The creation of this new technical assistance funding opportunity directly supports the goal of the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program to expand the availability of high-quality citizenship preparation services across the nation and to provide opportunities for immigrants to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate into the fabric of American society. 

Through the CITA grant, USCIS continues to fulfill President Biden’s charge in Executive Order 14012 (Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans) to “eliminate barriers in the naturalization process” and “make it more accessible to all eligible individuals.” USCIS also continues to pursue its goals under the Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization to address the needs of remote, isolated, and/or vulnerable populations by equipping more organizations to serve these communities.

In addition to the CITA funding opportunity, USCIS also announced the availability of up to $10 million in funding for the Citizenship Instruction and Naturalization Application Services (CINAS) grant on April 24, 2024. The deadline for this grant application process is June 21, 2024. To learn more about applying for federal funding opportunities, visit grants.gov (CINAS and CITA).

To apply for these funding opportunities, USCIS encourages you to obtain registration information needed to complete the application process at grants.gov/register.

USCIS will hold a stakeholder engagement on the CITA funding opportunity on May 22, 2024, to provide additional details and address questions about this grant. 

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

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