Citizenship group plans fair as antidote to fear
NICARAGUAN immigrant Rosa Campos once paid $120 to a Colombian man in Manhattan who claimed he could help her become a U.S. citizen. But her elation turned to disappointment.
The money got her nowhere — and later she saw the man on the news, exposed as a fraudster.
That was 20 years ago, when Campos was 47 and working in a Queens factory, painting T-shirts. Last year, she responded to a television report about the CUNY Citizenship Now! program. She called the hotline, and volunteers helped her fill out naturalization paperwork and pass the citizenship test she had failed years before — all for free.
“Before I was working — I was looking for help and I didn’t know where to go,” said Campos (right), now a U.S. citizen and a grandmother to 11.
“I wanted to exercise my right to vote,” she added.
At John Jay College in Manhattan on Wednesday, CUNY Citizenship Now! held a training session for the hundreds of volunteers who will help those with permanent residency qualify for naturalization. As volunteers raised colored paddles in response to a variety of naturalization scenarios — the auditorium appeared to turn into a sea of red and green.
On June 30, 45 attorneys will join 250 volunteers in a four-hour informational event at the college, helping some 600 people fill out their 20-page citizenship application. They’ll also help people obtain waivers for the $725 fee — a break sought by some 65% of applicants. Now in its 16th year, Citizenship Now! is doing away with the weeklong phone bank that has been a longstanding hallmark of the program. In its place, the program is adding a resource fair for undocumented immigrants. The event will include informational booths on emergency health care, legal services and scam avoidance. “We know that immigrants are really frightened,” said Allan Wernick, director of Citizenship Now! and who answers readers’ questions as a columnist for the Daily News, a longtime program co-sponsor. “People are looking for help,” he added. “Because we felt we shouldn’t do the callin this year, this is a way to make up for that.” Volunteers work throughout the year to help green card holders become citizens. Yvette Doldron, 55, has volunteered at 27 Citizenship Now! events since 2015. The Trinidad native was honored at the training for her dedication.
“My journey to CUNY Citizenship began over three years ago while reading the Daily News,” she said. “As an immigrant myself, I felt inspired to assist other immigrants.”
Noreen Noel, 60, has worked as a paralegal and a first responder for a rape crisis center at Sinai Hospital. Also from Trinidad, she’s volunteered for Citizenship Now! since 2007.
She says that as an immigrant with paralegal training, she feels an obligation to help others.
“I meet people every day outside of CUNY,” Noel said. “And I tell them, ‘This is easy, you can do it.’ ”