About the New Americans Campaign via YouTube

From Nov. 17-19, more than 600 immigrant rights supporters, elected officials, faith leaders, businesspeople and others from across the country will gather in Miami. They are convening to help define the direction of immigrant inclusion in the United States by attending the Sixth National Immigrant Integration Conference.

At Knight Foundation we support the conference because we believe that new Americans make vital contributions to our economy and our democracy.

According to a 2012 report by the Small Business Administration, immigrants have an above-average propensity to found new businesses. Knight’s Soul of the Community study, conducted with Gallup, showed that welcoming communities do better at attracting and retaining talented young people, which in turn also makes these communities more likely to succeed economically. Related Link 

“Attracting immigrant talent essential to city economies, Coletta says” by Andrew Sherry on KnightBlog

A 2012 report by the University of Southern California Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration found that citizenship can boost individual wages, with the potential to increase cumulative earnings over 10 years from $21 billion to $45 billion, also increasing the value of goods and services this country produces.

Those benefits could begin accruing today with the help of the 8.8 million legal permanent residents who live in the United States as green card holders. They are already qualified to become citizens. They could make the step toward citizenship right now, with all the ensuing monetary and civic benefits to our society.

But many are afraid of the naturalization process. That’s why Knight Foundation focuses its immigration support on the New Americans Campaign. The effort brings together more than 100 nonprofits and funders to modernize how our society helps legal permanent residents in their pursuit of citizenship.

In addition to assisting with naturalization applications (more than 11,000 since the effort began in 2011), the New Americans Campaign also models new approaches that can be copied by others. For instance, group-processing events allow the completion of hundreds of citizenship applications in a single day. The new CitizenshipWorks smartphone app assists with preparing applications and studying for the citizenship exam. Another novel approach provides naturalization assistance within corporations. Titled The Bethlehem Project, after Bethlehem Steel, which pioneered it, the effort has partnered with 26 businesses across the nation, ranging from hotels in Miami to American Apparel in Los Angeles, to assist their eligible immigrant employees with the citizenship process.

At Knight Foundation, we want to help democracy thrive. Supporting the New Americans Campaign is an essential part of this effort, and we are proud to welcome the National Immigrant Integration Conference to our hometown.

Marc Fest, consultant to Knight Foundation

Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #NIIC.