Welcoming America is pleased to highlight the USCIS as a partner of the Receiving Communities Initiative (RCI).  Learn more about RCI

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), part of the Department of Homeland Security, is a strong leader in promoting the value of receiving communities strategies and is helping grantees to infuse these new approaches into their work, in order to achieve more successful outcomes.

Welcoming America recently conducted a webinar for USCIS Office of Citizenship grantees on how to incorporate receiving communities principles into citizenship programs. Citizenship programs are ripe for bringing together newcomers and native born residents, attracting the involvement of local leaders, and promoting positive and unifying messages in the community about the contributions of our newest citizens. One USCIS-funded program using a receiving communities approach involves local high school students as volunteer tutors for their civics tutoring program. Another established a partnership with the local police department on a civic engagement initiative to help the immigrant population set up neighborhood crime watch programs.

USCIS also incorporated receiving communities engagement in their funding application for citizenship programs, signaling the importance of this approach. Welcoming America is delighted to be working with USCIS as a partner in the growing receiving communities movement.

To learn more about the Receiving Communities Initiative, visit www.receivingcommunities.org.

Click here to read the most recent RCI e-news.