Becoming a citizen of the United States of America is a dream many newcomers aim to achieve. For Ms. E, becoming a naturalized citizen meant a lot for her. She does not only see this as a piece of paper, but she also sees this as an emblem of her arduous work in this country to pursue a better quality of life for herself and her children. Ms. E stayed up many late nights studying for her citizenship test, she would take advantage of every small break at work to study, and even took on an entire semester of ESL classes to be able to become a Unites States Citizen. New Destiny’s Family Partners have always been supportive to our community members, especially to those that need concrete one-on-one support to accomplish their goals. Ms. E is an active participant of New Destiny FSC, she frequently visits our center for assistance, and to participate in our monthly events. Moreover, she has developed a professional relationship of trust and respect with our staff members. Throughout time and during her frequent stops at our center, she would catch our Family Partners up with where she stood in the process and how optimistic she was about passing her citizenship test.
Ms. E recently reached out to our office again and expressed she was ready to file her petition, but she needed assistance finding a place that would do it. Our Family Partner provided Ms. E with a direct referral to a legal aid office that could file the N-400 Naturalization Application at no cost to her. The legal aid representative helped Ms. E. However, she still needed to put together paperwork before the application could be submitted to USCIS. The legal aid representative asked Ms. E to gather many documents for her and her children. Most of the information requested involved technology, as in typed documents, scanning, and translation from Spanish to English. On August 18th, 2023, Ms. E came in and one of our Family Partners helped her as she found herself puzzled at the circumstance of gathering so much documentation and not necessarily knowing how to send it using technology. Our Family Partner took the time and went the extra mile to assist Ms. E, and all that was requested of her was submitted to the Legal Aid representative via email. On February 21, 2024, we received the good news and what Ms. E had been waiting to fulfill for so many months! Ms. E sent us a picture of her smiling and thanking everyone for all the support she received. She stated, “If it was not for New Destiny’s team, I would not have been able to accomplish my dream of becoming a citizen.” Ms. E is proof of how transactional can become transformational. This team of family partners thrives at engaging participants beyond a simple transaction, and this success story is a perfect example of our efforts.