As Mayor Bill de Blasio brings city hall to Queens this week, members of his administration announce an expansion of a program to help people on their path to citizenship. NY1’s Clodagh McGowan filed the following report.
For Ian Cadogan, an immigrant from Guyana, his path to citizenship also means a promotion in his job as a campus security guard.
"In that catergory, you must be a citizen in that category. So now that I'm a citizen, I'll be able to apply for that position," said Cadogan, a NYCitizenship program participant.
Cadogan is one of more than a thousand people who received free legal assistance and help with citizenship paperwork through the NYCitizenship initiative.
The program is funded by public and private dollars, bringing legal and financial counseling into public libraries.
"We have seen such tremendous demand for the program. Part of it is because it's located in libraries, where people feel comfortable getting information and then having the high quality legal services," said Nisha Agarwal, the commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs.
As part of Mayor de Blasio's City Hall in Your Borough tour, representatives from his administration were on hand at the Central Library branch in Jamaica on Thursday to announce the program is expanding to all five boroughs, with $1.6 million in funding available for its second year.
Officials said the expansion will also allow them to help senior citizens, some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.
"Sending them on that path really secures the economic stability for the future," said Grace Bonilla, the administrator of the city’s Human Resources Administration.
Queens Library officials said the program has been so in demand that at one point there was a two month waiting period. Now, they're excited to expand it to other branches are across the borough.
"This expansion is tremendous for the public at large and I think having people become citizens and have the library play a role go hand and hand together," said Queens Library President/CEO Dennis Walcott.
Anyone who would like to make an appointment can call 311 or head to nyc.gov/nycitizenship for more information.