THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2015
FACT SHEET: “Stand Stronger” Citizenship Awareness Campaign
Initiative Promotes Citizenship among those who are Eligible
Watch “Stand Stronger” Video featuring President Obama HERE
Since the beginning of his Administration, President Obama has made
clear that we are stronger as a nation when we welcome immigrants
and refugees into our communities and harness their entrepreneurial
spirit. At its heart, America is and has always been a nation of
immigrants. Immigrants and refugees contribute to our country’s social
and cultural fabric, and are critical to our country’s continued economic
prosperity. Today, on Citizenship and Constitution Day, President
Obama launched the “Stand Stronger” Citizenship Awareness
Campaign, a project with nonprofit Civic Nation, to encourage eligible
immigrants to take an important step in their American journey and
commit to citizenship. To launch this effort, the President released a
video message to encourage eligible lawful permanent residents
(LPRs) to commit to citizenship today.
According to the most recent estimates, there are approximately 13.3
million LPRs living in the United States, and 8.8 million of them are
eligible to apply for citizenship. This includes over 3 million refugees
who have resettled here since 1975 from countries that span the globe.
Nearly one out of every three eligible individuals obtained LPR status
in 1990 or earlier, meaning that many have been part of our
communities for decades. But they don’t yet enjoy all of the rights,
benefits, and responsibilities that come with being a full American
citizen.
As a part of his November 2014 executive actions, President Barack
Obama established the White House Task Force on New Americans
(“Task Force”) — a government-wide effort tasked with enhancing the
integration of immigrants and refugees into our communities. In April
2015, the Task Force released a strategic action plan with a set of
concrete steps to help promote immigrant and refugee integration by:
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Strengthening existing pathways to naturalization and promoting
civic engagement;
Building welcoming communities;
Supporting skill development, fostering entrepreneurship, and
safeguarding workers; and
Expanding opportunities for linguistics integration and education.
Launching the “Stand Stronger” Citizenship Awareness Campaign
Today, President Obama launched a national, multilingual public
awareness campaign to promote the rights, responsibilities, and
opportunities of citizenship among eligible LPRs and to build a volunteer
corps that will support them throughout the naturalization process. The
“Stand Stronger” Campaign aims to break down the barriers for eligible
immigrants and refugees to become U.S. citizens. The campaign reflects
the belief that we are, and have always been a nation of immigrants and a
nation that welcomes those fleeing persecution, in addition to
underscoring that immigrants and refugees make us stronger when they
are able to set down roots, harness their skills, contribute to our economy,
and commit to citizenship. The Campaign is a project of nonprofit Civic
Nation, with assistance from the White House and U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services. The Campaign was launched in conjunction with
community partners and civic leaders across the country and produced
by República. The “Stand Stronger” campaign is also working with
organizations like the PVBLIC Foundation, an in-kind grant making
organization, to harness the power of donated advertising space from
leading media companies.
As part of the campaign, the White House is working to engage
immigrant- and refugee- serving organizations around the country that
provide in-person assistance and legal services to individuals eligible to
naturalize; businesses that are providing citizenship workshops and
English language classes to their employees; the philanthropic
community; and cities and localities that are bringing immigration
services to places where immigrants and refugees live and work. To
help kick off the campaign, local governments, the business
community, and non-profit entities will host over 70 citizenship
outreach events in the first week alone. Those efforts will complement
activities hosted by the federal government, including 200
naturalization ceremonies that will welcome more than 36,000 new
citizens across the country during Constitution Week (September 17-23)
and in honor of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (September 17).
Efforts to Promote Citizenship
Launching the campaign is part of a comprehensive effort by the White
House Task Force on New Americans to ensure that eligible LPRs have
the tools and support needed to apply for
U.S.
citizenship. It complements existing efforts to provide
resources to eligible immigrants and refugees as well as to immigrantand refugee-serving organizations, municipal governments, and other
local partners. And it includes new commitments announced by the
federal government today:
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Customer Service Enhancements: Today, USCIS announced that it
is expanding mobile services to rural communities through a
new partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
beginning to allow credit card payments of naturalization fees.
USCIS is also launching two new tools for those seeking
assistance with the naturalization process: a citizenship class
locator that allows you to find a citizenship or English class in
your community, and a new, interactive online civics practice
test. Both of these tools are designed with the user in mind and
focused on answering the most pressing questions that soon-tobe citizens might have.
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Presidential Ambassadors for Citizenship and Naturalization: The
President is announcing four prominent new Americans and
children of immigrants as Presidential Ambassadors for
Citizenship and Naturalization. The Presidential Ambassadors
include chef and restaurateur José Andrés, actress Diane
Guerrero, singer and songwriter Dave Matthews, and former
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. This firstof- its-kind collaboration will harness these Ambassadors’
inspirational stories to promote naturalization, bolster
integration initiatives, and increase awareness of the
contributions of new Americans.
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Expanding Reach of Multimedia, Educational Ads on
Naturalization: In July 2015, USCIS released new print, digital,
radio public serve announcements (PSAs) about the
naturalization process, placing them in select markets in
California, New York, Texas, and Florida. Today, USCIS is
expanding the reach of these PSAs to six additional states—
New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington, and
Arizona. Together, these states are home to 75 percent of all
LPRs. Additionally, USCIS will expand its in-language
materials, currently provided in Spanish, Chinese, and
Vietnamese, to include Korean and Tagalog.
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Grants Supporting Citizenship and Immigrant and Refugee
Integration: USCIS continues to help build community
capacity to prepare individuals for citizenship through the
Citizenship and Integration Grant Program. Now in its seventh
year, the program has awarded a total of $53 million through
262 competitive grants to public or private non-profit
organizations in 35 states and the District of Columbia. USCIS
grantees have helped more than 122,000 LPRs prepare for
citizenship. Today, USCIS announced $10 million in
additional grants to 40 organizations located in 25 states.
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Building Welcoming Communities Campaign: To encourage local
communities to engage in local immigrant integration efforts,
the Task Force is launching the Building Welcoming
Communities Campaign in partnership with nonprofit
Welcoming America. The President is calling on local
communities to act on a set of principles to build inclusive,
welcoming communities that allow all residents to thrive and
succeed, thereby enhancing communities at large. Forty (40)
communities have already answered the call to build
welcoming communities.
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Welcoming Communities AmeriCorps: The Corporation for
National and Community Service (CNCS) is committing 150
Welcoming Communities AmeriCorps members to nearly 100
different communities through partnerships with the YMCA,
Catholic Charities, and national refugee resettlement
organizations. Welcoming Communities AmeriCorps will
help local communities develop and implement local
immigrant and refugee integration plans. CNCS will also
prioritize the development of new local AmeriCorps VISTA
partnerships.
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Outreach and Engagement with Municipal Governments: Since
local communities play a critical role in welcoming and
assisting immigrants and refugees, USCIS relies on state and
local partnerships to help educate individuals about
naturalization and lawful immigration. Today, USCIS
announced new partnerships and renewed local partnerships.
USCIS now has a total of eight municipal partners, which have
established 330 citizenship corners in municipal facilities and
conducted more than 20 naturalization information sessions at
local government venues.
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Enhancing the Meaning and Stature of Citizenship Ceremonies:
In September 2006, USCIS and the Department of the
Interior’s National Park Service (NPS) signed an agreement to
connect America’s newest citizens to national parks
throughout the country and has coordinated naturalization
ceremonies at many of our 408 national parks. Today, USCIS
is renewing its partnership with NPS to enhance the meaning
and stature of citizenship ceremonies by allowing
naturalization ceremonies to take place in our national parks.
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Increasing Low-Cost Legal Services Capacity for Immigrants and
Refugees: Many individuals who are eligible to naturalize or
obtain other legal remedies face barriers to accessing
affordable immigration-related legal services. In recognition of
this, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is issuing a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking to reform the process for becoming a
recognized legal service provider and an accredited
representative, which will expand the availability of legal
services to eligible LPRs at no cost to the public. DOJ will also
finalize two rules that will further facilitate access to pro-bono
legal services.
Examples of commitments being announced today by the private sector in
support of “Stand Stronger” include:
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New Americans Campaign: The New Americans Campaign,
launched in July 2011, announced a $10 million
commitment over the next two years to support in-person
assistance, legal services, and on-going collaboration
between 8 national partners, 18 program sites, and
approximately 100 local partners across the country.
Philanthropic investments in naturalization have totaled
nearly $30M since July 2011, including investments from
Carnegie Corporation of New York; the Wallace H. Coulter
Foundation; the Grove Foundation; the Evelyn and Walter
Haas, Jr. Fund; JPB Foundation; the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation; as well as the legacy funder Open
Society Foundations. In Los Angeles, the California
Community Foundation has invested in the local efforts of
the Campaign, as have the Ford Foundation in Detroit, the
Houston Endowment in Houston, and the Rockefeller
Brothers Fund in New York.
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National Partnership for New Americans: Through the National
Partnership for New Americans, 12 of the largest
immigrant advocacy organizations in the country have
combined their vast resources and collective reach and
experience in order to launch Become a Citizen Now!, a
one-stop, free resource for people nationwide to access
information about the naturalization process. In
addition, each partner offers citizenship services on the
ground in 11 different states.
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Cities for Citizenship: Cities for Citizenship is a national initiative
aimed at increasing citizenship among eligible LPRs and
encouraging cities to invest in citizenship programs. Cities
for Citizenship is chaired by New York City Mayor Bill de
Blasio, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Los Angeles
Mayor Eric Garcetti. It also draws support from the Center
for Popular Democracy, the National Partnership for New
Americans, and Citi Community Development. Almost 20
cities from all across America have joined the initiative,
including Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Nashville,
Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta. Many of these cities are
using this campaign as an opportunity to re-double their
citizenship and naturalization outreach efforts.
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New American Workforce: In partnership with the National
Immigration Forum’s New American Workforce, businesses
have made commitments to support their immigrant
workforce by offering citizenship services at the worksite.
Some of these partners are making new commitments, and
others are renewing the work they have already started to
make sure newly eligible employees are able to take
advantage of the benefits of the program and take the final
step towards becoming a U.S. citizen. Partners include the
Miami Dolphins, Evans Hotels, Doctors Community
Hospital and Miami Dade College.
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City of Atlanta: The City of Atlanta, in partnership with USCIS
and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, will
roll out the first phase of its Citizenship Corners, which
are spaces dedicated to providing resources to eligible
immigrants in locations where they live and work. The
initial phase of Citizenship Corners in Atlanta will
include City Hall, city libraries, two community centers,
and two immigrant-owned grocery stores named El
Progreso. Also, on Monday, Mayor Kasim Reed hosted a
naturalization ceremony at City Hall to welcome 20 new
Americans. Community partners were on site to provide
additional resources and information while the CocaCola Company provided commemorative Coca-Cola
bottles that read “Share a Coke with a New American”
modeled after their “Share a Coke” campaign.
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City of Los Angeles: During Citizenship Day, Mayor Garcetti will
kick off his "Step Forward LA" initiative, which aims to
reach out to 100,000 eligible immigrants in Los Angeles,
helping them take the necessary steps to become U.S.
citizens. The City of Los Angeles will also roll out a
citizenship website, Stepforward.lacity.org that will
provide resources and information on how to navigate the
process of citizenship. Mayor Garcetti will also
commemorate the day by attending the USCIS Children’s
Ceremony where more than 80 children will become
citizens with their families at our public library.
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City of New York: Through a partnership with USCIS, New York
City has expanded Citizenship Corners in all of the city’s
public libraries, hired and trained community navigators,
and increased the number of citizenship workshops
available to eligible immigrants in New York City. In
recognition of Citizenship Day, Mayor de Blasio will host
a naturalization ceremony to welcome 100 new Americans
and the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs is working
with labor, faith and community partners on a Week of
Action on citizenship.
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Cities United for Immigration Action: Cities United for
Immigration Action is a cohort of nearly 100 mayors and
county executives throughout the country that advocate
for immigration reform, as well as state, local, and federal
policy that works to enhance immigrant integration.
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San Francisco Pathways to Citizenship Initiative (SFPCI):
Launched in July 2013 by Mayor Ed Lee, the San Francisco
Pathways to Citizenship Initiative (SFPCI) is a unique
partnership between the City and County of San Francisco,
philanthropic organizations, and the nonprofit sector to
provide assistance and resources to eligible LPRs. Pathways
partners have conducted 14 workshops, reaching over one
million San Francisco Bay Area residents and training over
500 volunteer mentors. The San Francisco Office of Civic
Engagement & Immigrant Affairs provides 50 percent of
the total $1.2M funding, in addition to providing other
support services to SFPCI.
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Napa Valley Community Foundation: The Napa Valley
Community Foundation announced its efforts to
expand their investments in the One Napa Valley
Initiative by $645,000 over the next two years. This
expansion will allow the organization to provide
additional support and services to eligible immigrants
interested in naturalizing in their area.
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Latina Magazine: Latina Magazine will promote citizenship
public awareness material on their various platforms,
including online amplification.
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Univision: Univision will lend space in their programming and
social media platforms to promote the campaign.
Partnering with local immigrant-serving organizations,
local affiliate stations will cover local events.
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Entravision: Entravision will promote the citizenship campaign
on their TV and radio stations. Partnering with local
immigrant-serving organizations, local affiliate stations
will cover local events.
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People en Español: The popular lifestyle magazine will promote the
campaign on their site and digital platforms. The Stand Stronger
Campaign will be featured in the Festival People en Español.