A new round of citizenship grants from USCIS

direct services: citizenship instruction paired with application assistance

USCIS is announcing a new round of 2-year grants for non-profits to provide citizenship instruction paired with application assistance: 

 

This funding opportunity is for organizations that prepare permanent residents for citizenship by offering both citizenship instruction and naturalization application services. The program design must include the following two components:

  • Citizenship instruction to prepare permanent residents for the civics (U.S. history and government) and English (reading, writing and speaking) components of the naturalization test; and
  • Naturalization application services to support permanent residents in the naturalization application and interview process, within the scope of the authorized practice of immigration law.

Eligible applicants are organizations with public or non-profit status that can demonstrate recent experience providing citizenship instruction and naturalization application services to immigrants. This includes, but is not limited to: public or private non-profit organizations; public school systems, universities and community colleges; civic, community and faith-based organizations; adult-education organizations; public libraries; volunteer and literacy organizations; and state and local governments.

Current awardees funded under FY 2011 Citizenship and Integration Grant Program funding opportunities DHS-11-CIS-010-003, DHS-11-CIS-010-002 and DHS-11-CIS-010-001 are not eligible to apply for the FY 2012 funding opportunity because the FY 2011 program’s two-year period of performance will not expire before the start of the new program. 

Applicants and any proposed sub-applicants that will provide naturalization application services must either:

  • Be recognized by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and have a BIA-accredited representative on staff who provides or supervises the naturalization application services; or
  • Have an in-house attorney who provides or supervises the naturalization application services.
Funding Opportunity:  DHS-12-CIS-010-002
Application Deadline: May 7, 2012 (No extensions)
Estimated Number of Awards: 31
Anticipated Funding Amount: $4,960,000
Performance Period: Two years (comprising two one-year budget periods) 
Anticipated Award Date: September 2012
Maximum Grant Award: Maximum grant award is $160,000
($80,000 for the first year budget period and
$80,000 for the second year budget period).

The announcement is here:  http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ea0e0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=ea0e0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

Note: To download the actual RFP and related Q/A info, look for the links on the rights side of the page. 

Posted: to Citizenship News on Wed, Mar 21, 2012
Updated: Wed, Mar 21, 2012