About Cities for Citizenship

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Cities for Citizenship (C4C) is a major national initiative aimed at increasing citizenship among eligible U.S. permanent residents and encouraging cities and counties across the country to invest in citizenship programs. C4C is chaired by the Mayors of New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, with the support of the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA). Citi Community Development is the Founding Corporate Partner.

There are nearly 9 million legal permanent residents in America who are eligible for citizenship – 52% of whom remain low-income. Their naturalization would provide access to better paying jobs (up to an 11% increase to their personal earnings), academic scholarships, and myriad other benefits. Cities for Citizenship promotes the expansion of naturalization and financial empowerment programs nationwide, boosting economic opportunity for our immigrants and our communities.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio

City of New York

The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs plans to dramatically expand NYCitizenship, the first large-scale coordinated effort by a municipal government to address the barriers to naturalization, currently supported by Citi Community Development. In its first two years, NYCitizenship already provided support to more than 7,000 participants. The City will expand the existing school-based program and partner with the Human Resources Administration, a municipal agency that serves low-income New Yorkers, to significantly increase access to financial counseling, microloans, immigration legal assistance for the City’s more than 640,000 legal permanent residents.

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Mayor Eric Garcetti

City of Los Angeles

The City will augment the Los Angeles Public Libraries system of Citizenship Corners by integrating a financial component to its already popular citizenship programs, providing guidance to financial coaching resources and access to micro-loans and savings for the city’s immigrant community. The City will also target businesses that have large numbers of eligible citizens and immigrant populations for citizenship and financial coaching support. These efforts target the more than 350,000 legal permanent residents of Los Angeles.

 
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot

City of Chicago

Chicago has pledged to help about one-third of its immigrants become U.S. citizens through the Chicago New Americans initiative. The City will offer multi-lingual financial education and citizenship workshops in Citizenship Corners in public libraries, as well as support organizations that offer these services. Staff from community organizations will visit schools with large concentrations of immigrant students and parents to create a one-stop shop for information about the naturalization process, free immigration legal assistance, and financial coaching. The City’s Small Business Center will also provide services to immigrant business-owners and target large immigrant employers for citizenship and financial coaching support.