by Erendira Rendon
 On January 29, 2016 The Resurrection Project (TRP) joined labor, immigrant, elected officials, and community leaders to launch the New American Democracy Campaign (NADC) in Illinois with the goal of creating thousands of new immigrant voters in the state of Illinois.
In attendance at the event were U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Aldermen George Cardenas and Daniel Solis of the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus, and State Senator Tony Muñoz and State Representative Lisa Hernandez of the State of Illinois Latino Caucus.
This year, there are 8.8 million Legal Permanent Residents in the United States who could apply to become citizens. Today, 370,000 immigrants in Illinois are eligible to become US Citizens.
These immigrants are poised to change the Illinois electoral landscape in the 2016 elections. However, even though they are eligible to apply for citizenship, many of them don’t know how to apply, are afraid, or don’t have the necessary resources – financial or other – to do so.
Every election cycle, an additional 1.8 million U.S. citizen children of immigrants become 18 years old and are eligible to vote.
“That’s why Illinois organizations are coming together to collaborate on naturalization and registration work, and stand up to hate,” said Raul Raymundo, CEO of TRP.  Over the next four months, the campaign will hold events across the state to assist immigrants in becoming citizens.
The mission of NADC is to increase naturalization and mobilize voters by creating a coordinated voter registration program for naturalized citizens and for the U.S-citizen children of immigrants.
“My mother came to this country with her family from Lithuania when she was just two years old,” said Senator Durbin. “I keep my mother’s naturalization papers in my office in the United States Capitol to remind myself how brave she was – and how fortunate I am to be her son. Today, there are many immigrants on track to become U.S. citizens, but they face obstacles during the naturalization process. I’m proud to be part of this effort to help immigrants navigate the naturalization process, ultimately strengthening our democracy and civic engagement.”
The event also marked Congressman Luis Gutierrez’s first stop in a national tour to naturalize immigrants to become citizens. His next stops will be Nevada and Colorado, two swing states with growing Latino populations. “The goal is to increase naturalization rates and to register and mobilize millions of voters by creating a voter registration program for naturalized citizens and for the U.S. citizen children of immigrants.” said Congressman Gutierrez.
Immigrants who are eligible to naturalize are encouraged to visit www.hagaseciudadano.org or www.naturalizenow.org to find out more information.
The Illinois New American Democracy Campaign includes the following members: Community Activism Law Alliance, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, Cities for Citizenship Chicago, Hispanic Council of the Archdioceses of Chicago, Erie Neighborhood House, Hometown Federations of the states of: Michoacán, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Veracruz, Guanajuato, and Durango, Instituto del Progreso Latino, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, National Partnership for New Americans, Proyecto Juntos Podemos, South Suburban Immigrant Project, Southwest Organizing Project, The Resurrection Project, and Unite Here
The National New American Democracy Campaign is a coalition of the National Partnership for New American, the Latino Victory Fund, Mi Familia Vota, iAmerica Action and SEIU