Grants to help immigrants on path to citizenship

Three nonprofit organizations in Houston have been awarded nearly $1 million in grants to help prepare immigrants who are lawful permanent residents to become U.S. citizens.

BakerRipley, won $296,420, Boat People SOS got $270,000 and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of GalvestonHouston landed $300,000 in federal grant money.

The grant funding awarded by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was part of a $20 million program to expand naturalization preparation services in 30 states. Sixty-six organizations nationwide were awarded the congressionally-approved funding.

The nonprofits were selected for their work to “prepare immigrants for naturalization and promote civic integration through increased knowledge of English, U.S. history and civics,” according to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services news release.

Boat People SOS offers classes in English, Vietnamese in Spanish to prepare people for their naturalization test, which they must pass to become a citi

zen. Similarly, Baker Ripley currently facilitates citizenship forums and classes and Catholic Charities provides citizenship workshops.

“We are committed to educating remote, underserved and vulnerable populations about the benefits of citizenship, and about the naturalization process,” said the agency’s director Ur M. Jaddou.

The grant funding may be used by the nonprofits through September 2024.

The Houston field office had nearly 29,000 pending naturalization applications, according to the most recent agency data from June 2022, which amounts to more applications than every other agency office in the country except for Dallas, which had about 100 more applications than Houston.