On July 4, CPD, the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), Citi Community Development, and Cities for Citizenship (C4C) released a new report that shows the surging interest in citizenship across the country and demonstrates how naturalization can benefit cities, as this national campaign seeks to accelerate the pace of citizenship applications over the coming year. The report was featured in CityLab, Next City, and El Dario.

The report looks at the impact of the Cities for Citizenship program, which helps cities invest in programs designed to encourage citizenship and let green card holders overcome hurdles to naturalization. The C4C program contributed to the national uptick in naturalization applications in 2016, which saw a record 970,000 applications for citizenship - a 24 percent increase over 2015. The number of cities joining the program has also skyrocketed, with 18 new city and county partners since the start of 2016, nearly doubling the total number of cities involved. C4C’s network of municipal partners grew by 46 percent in just the first six months of 2017.

The Cities for Citizenship program now spans 38 cities across the country. The new additions include Mayors from small towns and states deep in the heartland, underlining that citizenship is an issue that bridges the partisan gap.