The New York Daily News and City University of New York (CUNY) will be launching the eighth annual Citizenship NOW! hotline, providing free information to immigrants as they travel en route to citizenship.
Beginning Monday, April 25 through Friday, April 29, from 9 to 7 p.m., a week-long hotline will be operated with approximately 400 trained counselors available by telephone.
“In New York, the immigrant community is one of our most energizing forces and needs all the help on complex immigration issues that we can provide,” said Kevin R. Convey, editor-in-chief of the Daily News. “It is important for us to provide New Yorkers, their friends and family members who seek citizenship with easy access to the answers they need.”
Citizenship NOW!, led by Allan Wernick, attorney and director of CUNY’s Citizenship NOW!, was co-launched in April 2004 by the Daily News and CUNY to address the lack of access of immigration information provided to individuals.
“There are an estimated 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., with some 800,000 in the New York area,” said Wernick. “In the current economic environment, the need for immigration and citizenship application information and assistance is great and growing, despite existing federal and state resources for these services.”
“The Daily News/CUNY partnership is an outstanding public service that helps tens of thousands of families gain access to the American Dream,” said Matthew Goldstein, CUNY Chancellor. “We are proud to be offering free quality citizenship services to its students and the immigrant communities of our city and state.”
According to the Daily News, calls will be answered in English and Spanish, also Mandarin or Cantonese, Russian, Korean, Italian, Haitian Creole, Bengali, Polish, French, Yiddish, and Arabic.
“With Queens being the most diverse county in NY, this program is something that hits very close to home with readers,” said Jennifer Mauer, director of communications at the Daily News.
WXTV Univision 41 have also partnered with the program for the past five years, providing live coverage, on-air promotional announcements, and special news segments.
The volunteers participating have included, CUNY School of Law, the Legal Aid Society, the New York Immigration Coalition, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the CUNY Immigration Centers, CUNY campuses, community–based organizations and offices of elected officials.
“Last year, we helped nearly 15,000 callers for a total of 85,000 since inception,” said Mauer. “Our goal this year is to reach a grand total of 100,000 callers helped.”
The call-in numbers for the hotline will be available on Monday, April 25, in the New York Daily News, at www.nydailynews.com, at www.cuny.edu/citizenshipnow/call-in and on WXTV Univision 41.
