Catholic Migration Services (CMS) announced today that it was one of only 40 organizations nationwide chosen to receive a citizenship grant from U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The federal grant is awarded on a highly competitive basis and comes with an award of $250,000 dispersed over a two-year period to fund legal and educational services for lawful permanent residents interested in applying for U.S. citizenship.
Since it began its Citizenship and Integration Grant Program in 2009, USCIS has awarded a total of $43 million to immigrant-serving organizations in 35 states and the District of Columbia, helping more than 93,000 permanent residents prepare for citizenship. Thanks to this grant funding, CMS will expand its existing naturalization legal services, while at the same time its partner and sub-grantee, Brooklyn Public Library, will offer free citizenship instructional courses at several local library branches located throughout the borough.
“We are thrilled and honored to receive this grant from USCIS,” said Rev. Patrick Keating, Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Migration Services. “With this federal funding, and through our partnership with Brooklyn Public Library, we will be able to do so much more to reach the hundreds of thousands of lawful permanent residents that call New York City home. There is a great need for quality citizenship preparation services in this city, and we are very happy to be working toward meeting the needs of our city’s diverse immigrant communities with this program.”
If you would like more information about the CMS Citizenship and Integration Program, please visit our website. For information on how to enroll in citizenship courses at Brooklyn Public Libraries or how to receive naturalization application assistance, please call the CMS Citizenship Hotline at (646) 597-8797.
About Catholic Migration Services
Catholic Migration Services (CMS) is a non-profit legal services organization that was established in 1971 by the Most Reverend Francis J. Mugavero to serve the needs of immigrants and refugees in Queens and Brooklyn. Originally operating in a small storefront office as the immigration services arm of the Diocese of Brooklyn, today the organization is a fully independent 501(c)(3) corporation offering a wide range of legal services related to immigration, housing and employment. Since its founding, CMS has served tens of thousands of immigrants—regardless of religion, race or legal status—from at least 167 countries who speak more than 80 languages. For more information about CMS and how to access our legal services, visit us on the web at www.catholicmigration.org.
Acknowledgement of Funding
The services described in this press release are supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under Grant Award Number 2014-CS-010-000009. The views and conclusions contained in this press release are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security does not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication.
Contact
To learn more about the CMS Citizenship Program, please contact:
Zachary Shultz, Naturalization Coordinator
191 Joralemon St, 4th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Office: (718) 236-3000
Fax: (718) 256-9707
zshultz@catholicmigration.org