FY 2011 Citizenship and Integration National Capacity Building Grant Program

The Office of Citizenship (OoC), within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is charged with promoting the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Naturalization is not only a benefit in itself, but also a mechanism to foster immigrant integration. Naturalization provides civic and economic opportunities for new citizens, and strengthens our communities and nation as a whole. Through preparing for naturalization, applicants will gain the tools to be vested citizens – ready to exercise their rights and meet their responsibilities as United States citizens.The goals of this grant program are to expand the availability of high quality citizenship preparation programs across the nation through the creation of new programs within existing organizations, strengthen emerging citizenship preparation programs, and build long-term capacity of local organizations to provide direct citizenship preparation services to LPRs in communities most in need of those services. At the end of the grant performance period, the sub-applicant organizations should be well-prepared to manage and execute all aspects of successful citizenship instruction and naturalization application service programs.