The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) National Citizenship Day will be held this year in: Minneapolis (two sites) St. Paul (two sites) Rochester, St. Cloud and Worthington. The AILA is seeking volunteer attorneys, paralegals, non-lawyers, and interpreters across the state to plan and carry out this important event.

Last year's national AILA citizenship day event was a great success nationwide! The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) won the Award of Excellence in the 2008 Associations Advance America Awards program for its nationwide “Citizenship Day” project. Fourteen AILA State Chapters and hundreds of AILA members and others volunteered their time to assist 1,700 eligible legal permanent residents to prepare naturalization applications at little or no cost. The Minnesota/Dakotas Chapter of AILA in Rochester served approximately 80 people. This year, more than three-quarters of all AILA chapters nationwide are participating! YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AN ATTORNEY TO VOLUNTEER!

Volunteers will work in conjunction with: MN/Dakotas AILA Chapter, Immigrant Law Center of MN (ILCM), MN Legal Services Coalition (MLSC), Mid-MN Legal Assistance (MMLA), Centro Legal Inc., Hubbs Center, Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association (IMAA), Dunlap & Seeger, P.A., Klampe, Delehanty & Morris, LLC., Rochester Public Schools Community Education, Rochester
Catholic Charities, Nobles County Integration Collaborative and others yet to be announced!

Opportunities include: sign up to be a non-attorney volunteer on the day of the event - you will receive training and special tools to assist volunteer attorneys in helping eligible applicants in filing for naturalization; sign up to be a volunteer attorney on the day of the event – you will receive training and special tools to screen and assist eligible applicants in filing for naturalization pro se; sign up to be an interpreter on the day of the event - interpreters will help other volunteers in interviewing applicants, completing forms, and help out with logistics; sign up to be a site leader - site leaders will be asked to make sure things are in order and run smoothly at a specific site on citizenship day; sign up to be an event sponsor - sponsorships can include donating staff time, financial resources, supply or location donations, event publicity and more! Your organization will be featured in all promotional materials for the event.

For more information on how to sign up, contact Cynthia Anderson, Immigrant Law Center of MN, via e-mail at: Cynthia.Anderson@ilcm.org.