App Helps People Apply for Citizenship

A new mobile application guides immigrants with green cards through the naturalization process. It was created as part of a campaign to increase the number of people who apply for citizenship. A new mobile application guides immigrants with green cards through the naturalization process. It was created as part of a campaign to increase the number of people who apply for citizenship.

July 14, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute

A nonprofit coalition has created a mobile app to help immigrants with green cards navigate the daunting naturalization process.

CitizenshipWorks helps people determine if they are eligible to become an American citizen and explains the application process and necessary documents. It also helps them find free or low-cost legal assistance and aids the process of studying for the English and civics test. The information is available in both English and Spanish, with more languages to be offered soon.

The app was created by Pro Bono Net, a nonprofit that uses technology to increase access to legal assistance, and the Immigration Advocates Network. It was paid for with money from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Grove Foundation, and the New Americans Campaign.

A major benefit of the app is that it offers convenient access to easy-to-understand information, says Damian Thorman, national program director at the Knight Foundation: “This tool allows you to go online at 2 p.m. or 3 a.m., depending on your schedule.”

For more information: Go to citizenshipworks.org.

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NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.