The recent advocacy in support of comprehensive immigration reform has fueled a national debate, but more importantly, mobilized millions of immigrants to be a part of the discussion.   In cities and states across the country, we have seen highly organized demonstrations, public forums, media campaigns, and many other expressions of opinion on this critical issue. Virginia is among the states where the issue of immigrant rights has played an undeniable role in empowering individuals and communities to organize and mobilize communities into action.

In the spirit of promoting a greater awareness about the importance of naturalization, encouraging citizenship among LPRs, and fostering greater immigrant rights in a new phase of community organizing, Virginia New Majority will launch a regional citizenship campaign known as the “New Virginians Initiative” (NVI) and will target 30,000 LPRs in Northern Virginia over a three year period.

The NVI is a program to engage more people from traditionally marginalized populations- especially immigrants- in the social, cultural, economic and political life of our communities.  These individuals are frequently left out of decision-making processes and whose needs are rarely addressed adequately.

It works by naturalizing eligible immigrants and teaching them and other community members about the importance of being involved with the local community and how to get engaged.  The NVI has four key elements:

•  Citizenship Clinics- regularly scheduled one-stop clinics to assist Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) to complete citizenship applications, sign up for English classes and Democracy School courses
•  Democracy Schools- 9-week long courses that prepare LPRs for the citizenship exam and greater community involvement through an innovative, participatory curriculum
•  Integrated Voter Engagement- following up with new citizens to make sure that they are registered to vote and to see how they have connected within our community
•  Public Outreach- a broad media and grassroots outreach campaign to promote citizenship and long-term civic participation