Citizenship: Change your life
Friday, September 13, 2013
*Randolph McGrorty
Catholic Legal Services of the Archdiocese of Miami was created in January 1998 with the goal of providing legal services for residents of South Florida who lack the economic means to seek legal assistance with immigration issues. The agency is now the largest nonprofit provider of immigration services in South Florida, with 36 employees including immigration attorneys, accredited representatives, paralegals or legal assistants, social workers and interpreters.
Catholic Legal Services is the agency that heads the New Americans Campaign, which is also taking place in Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and New York. The New Americans Campaign represents a national non-partisan effort that brings together diverse legal service agencies to advise and assist permanent legal residents and help them become U.S. citizens. A national consortium of donors, including The Knight Foundation in Miami, have made unprecedented commitments to this project.
Catholic Legal Services has also joined with the “Change Your Life” citizenship initiative (Cambia Tu Vida in Spanish) of the Archdiocese of Miami that promotes collaboration among public and private educational institutions, churches, local businesses and other entities to offer legal immigration services, assistance with completing applications, and citizenship classes for permanent legal residents who are eligible for naturalization.
On June 22, Catholic Legal Services organized the first citizenship mega event, where more than 1,000 applications for naturalization were processed for free (after federal fees) at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus. For this effort, we had the support of Ya es Hora ¡Ciudadanía! (sponsored by Univision 23,) National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), and Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), as well as our colleagues at the New Americans Campaign in Miami, including Hispanic Unity, Read2Succeed, Florida International University School of Law Clinic, International Rescue Committee, Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), Bethehem Project, and the ESOL Program (English for Speakers of Other Languages) of Miami-Dade Public Schools.
Numerous community leaders, including Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, joined together in this effort to stress the importance of “living the American dream” and helping others attain American citizenship as part of a path to freedom and full integration within our democratic nation.
- The next event of this kind will take place Sept. 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at several locations throughout Miami-Dade County. To help South Florida residents, events have been planned in the four corners of the county for easy access for all residents. For more information or to make an appointment, call 305-373-1073, ext. 202.
- In the south part of the county, the Sept. 21 event is sponsored by Read2Succeed and will take place at Kendall Lakes Library, 15205 SW 88 St., Miami. For more information, call 305-416-7902.
- Hispanic Unity is coordinating the event in the northern section at their office, 5840 Johnson St., Hollywood. Call 954-907-1354.
- Florida International University School of Law Clinic is covering the western part of the county with their event at the Modesto Maidique Campus, 11200 SW 8 St., Room RDB1010. For more information, call 305-348-7541.
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