Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "citizenship"

CivicMeet invites public to incubate new ideas

2013-03-25T18:11:12Z

CivicMeet Sacramento will continue to fill an unmet need this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at The Urban Hive. The traditional public meeting format does not give citizens the opportunity to help solve problems that they are capable of voluntarily tackling.

Do you remember the last time you went to a public meeting? Sure, they’re useful for getting information, but not necessarily for incubating new ideas.

Public Innovation, one of the organizations behind CivicMeet Sacramento (and Code for Sacramento), is building a civic innovation ecosystem to provide citizens with creative spaces where they can address community issues together.

Civic initiatives just like this are spreading across the country. As described in Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new book Citizenville, technology is connecting civic innovators and bringing them together at meetup-style events. This new civic infrastructure facilitates collaborative problem solving among citizens from different backgrounds -- including the nonprofit, business, and government communities.

Beyond the protest movements of Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party, civic innovation transcends ideology because there’s no shortage of public services that could be improved through creative, citizen-driven approaches.

Government plays an incredibly important role in our lives. It protects us from criminals, cleans our streets, educates our children, and more. But there are many areas where it falls short. Government makes it hard to find the information we need when we need it, get where we want to go when we want to get there, and start the new business that we’ve always dreamed about starting.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Just look at the amazing work that Turn Downtown Around is accomplishing by bringing people together who are willing to invest their time and energy to make their community a better place to live.

So what’s your issue? CivicMeet Sacramento #4 will give you the opportunity to not just talk, but to act. We have a new format to help the best ideas rise to the top and we’ll give you the tools to make them reality.

Join us this Wednesday to see what CivicMeet is all about.

Register for CivicMeet Sacramento #4

Disclosure: Ash Roughani is chief evangelist of Public Innovation, a sponsor of CivicMeet Sacramento. If your organization would like to co-sponsor CivicMeet Sacramento, please send an email to civicmeet (at) publicinnovation.org.

CivicMeet Sacramento to host second meetup Thursday

2013-01-22T22:33:59Z

CivicMeet Sacramento isn't your typical public meeting. We're a solutions-oriented group of citizens from different backrounds who are working to exploit Sacramento's untapped potential for innovation in the civic space.

So what exactly does that mean? Many of us practice citizenship through a consumption model: we elect people to office who design and implement public policy. We re-elect them when we believe they're doing a good job and vote against them when we think we can do better.

Civic innovators take citizenship to the next level through a co-creation model. We use non-traditional approaches like design thinking to improve the citizen experience. CivicMeet Sacramento is a community of doers working to develop creative solutions that we can deploy ourselves, but that work even better when government is a partner.

That's why we're super-excited to have Sacramento City Council Member Steve Hansen as our special guest this Thursday for CivicMeet Sacramento #2. The event will take place at 7 p.m. at The Urban Hive in Midtown. You can get more information and register for the event here.

If this is your first CivicMeet (don't worry, it's only our second meetup!), you should read about what happened at December's event. Thursday's agenda is open, but we'd like to narrow some of the discussion items. So we're experimenting with a new crowdsourcing platform and encourage you to vote on and share your ideas there or even in the comments section here.

We look forward to growing our community invite you to be part of it. See you at CivicMeet Sacramento!

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Civic innovators explore creative space at CivicMeet Sacramento

2012-12-12T18:18:14Z

In what could only be initially described as an experiment, nearly 40 participants gathered at The Urban Hive on Tuesday evening for CivicMeet Sacramento, an event sponsored by civic startup Public Innovation.

Breaking into a new space of civic co-creation, five teams developed innovative proposals to address unmet public needs in under 45 minutes. This proof of concept validates the model Public Innovation has adapted from Bay Area efforts such as Code for America and the San Francisco Urban Prototyping Festival, and given the green light to move forward with future projects.

The five teams each designed a poster to describe their idea. Their innovations comprised:

(1) Humanizing Homelessness: an effort to provide a voice for the homeless through public chalkboards, so that neighbors can better understand the individual circumstances of members of the homeless population.

(2) The Civic Exchange: an online platform where government agencies can post innovation challenges for which anyone can attempt to sove and be awarded prize money.

(3) Interconnect: a public transportation strategy that integrates streetcars, public parking, and bike lanes to expedite travel among Sacramento's highest demand nodes.

(4) CivicWiki.org: a simple, online interface that provides users with current information about public services irrespective of what level of government provides the specific service.

(5) Where's My Ride?: a mobile app that crowdsources geospatial information from public transit riders to provide users real-time information regarding scheduled arrivals.

So what now? Public Innovation's model employs a three stage innovation process for new ideas: (1) generation, (2) development, and (3) deployment. Tuesday's meetup focused on the generation of new ideas. Subsequent meetups will both generate other ideas, as well as provide the opportunity for previous ideas to be refined.

Some of these innovations will be developed at the National Day of Civic Hacking Hackathon, which will be held at Hacker Lab on June 1-2, 2013.

To learn more about Public Innovation, CivicMeet Sacramento, or the National Day of Civic Hacking, please contact Ash Roughani at ash (at) publicinnovation.org.

Editor's Note: Ash Roughani will be a guest in a Sac Press Live Chat on December 12 at 2:30 p.m.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Disclosure: Ash Roughani is chief evangelist of Public Innovation, the initial sponsor of CivicMeet Sacramento. If your organization would like to co-sponsor CivicMeet Sacramento, please send an email to civicmeet (at) publicinnovation.org.

CivicMeet Sacramento hosts first monthly meetup tonight

2012-12-11T16:43:19Z

What happens when you adapt the concept of a hackathon and invite non-coders to come up with bold ideas for innovation in the public space? You get CivicMeet Sacramento.

Tonight, CivicMeet Sacramento will hold its first monthly meetup to begin prototyping creative solutions to challenges that affect us all. More importantly, we're creating a community of civic innovators with diverse backgrounds -- including business, nonprofits, higher education, technology, and, of course, government.

Participants are invited to come up with ideas in the issue area of their choice. For example:

Ways to improve the experience of riding public transit.
Areas where business permitting could be further streamlined.
An app that crowdsources information about bike thefts.
More effective strategies to manage homelessness.
Collaborative partnerships between schools and nonprofits for workforce training.

The ideas generated at CivicMeet Sacramento will be further developed by Public Innovation -- an early-stage nonprofit whose mission is to make the Sacramento region a global leader in public sector innovation.

CivicMeet Sacramento is a new space where we no longer have to wait for government to solve every problem. There are myriad opportunities for us to get things done in partnership with government by leveraging existing resources -- namely, the human capital of people just like you.

Our first meetup is tonight (Tuesday, December 11) at 7 p.m. at The Urban Hive. Join us by registering here.

CivicMeet Sacramento to cultivate community of civic innovators

2012-11-28T00:22:49Z

As home to one of the largest sub-national governments in the world, Sacramento's share of public sector employment is nearly double the state average. When local leaders discuss economic growth, you can't avoid hearing about the need to decrease our reliance on government as a dominant employer in our region.

What if we could think about that question in a different way? What if being the state's capital was an asset rather than a drag on how we're perceived as a region? What if we were seen as global leader in self-governing?

We all know that the pace of change is accelerating. "Innovation" has become a buzz word, yet it's also a disruptive force that's creating the jobs of the future. And while innovation drives productivity gains and technological advancement in the private sector, we are only beginning to understand how it will transform democracy.

Perhaps the leader in this space is Code for America, known as a "Peace Corps for geeks." Led by Jennifer Pahlka, the nonprofit's fellowship program places teams of developers and designers in local governments across the country to create technology-driven solutions to local problems. But the apps that result are not ends in themselves; instead, they're a means for better connecting citizens with their government.

The good news is that we don't have to wait for a team of Code for America fellows to arrive in one of our region's 22 cities. Nor do we have to wait for our preferred candidate or political party to be elected to office. The lesson from Code for America and others is that citizenship extends far beyond mere voting.

CivicMeet Sacramento is a new opportunity for us to not just practice citizenship, but to revolutionize it. By assembling creative minds from business, nonprofits, higher education, the tech community -- and, of course, government, we can create public value together.

Early CivicMeets will identify broad areas that are ripe for innovation in the public space and introduce concepts like civic innovation, co-creation, and design thinking to participants. Eventually, CivicMeets will include specific, voluntary project opportunities and highlight the accomplishments of CivicMeet community members.

Sacramento is well positioned -- because of its diversity -- to be at the forefront of social entrepreneurship and civic innovation. There's no shortage of problems to be solved and it should be clear by now that government cannot act alone. Nor is it effective when it does.

Of course, CivicMeet Sacramento isn't for everyone. It won't be a political group or a complaint department. Rather, CivicMeet is for the doers who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get things done -- with some help from government, business, and nonprofits, as needed.

The first meetup of CivicMeet Sacramento will occur on Tuesday, December 11 at 7 p.m. at The Urban Hive. Through a series of short challenges, we'll identify "pain points" in the public space and engage in rapid prototyping of new ideas.

You don't have to come with an idea already in mind, but a little bit of passion for an issue will go a long way. So what's your issue?

Vandalism? Supporting small businesses? Bike thefts? Public housing? A permanent farmers market?

This is your invitation to join us and help answer the question, "How might we..."

Register for CivicMeet Sacramento

Assemblymember Dickinson Hosting a Free Citizenship Fair

2011-11-07T20:25:16Z

On November 19, Assemblymember Dickinson, along with Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and U.S. Congresswoman Doris Matsui, is hosting a free Citizenship Fair at Pacific McGeorge School of Law Student Center in Sacramento to assist legal permanent residents in good standing with the citizenship application process. Currently, California has over 2.4 million eligible legal permanent residents.

As immigration policies and procedures continue to change, it is increasingly important to apply for and to obtain citizenship. Benefits for legal permanent residents who obtain citizenship include the ability to vote, the opportunity to reunite with family members and the continuance of health care coverage.

At the fair, attendees will:
• Receive free legal help completing and filing their naturalization application (N-400 and N-600)
• Receive free help with the fee waiver to apply for naturalization, if they qualify
• Receive study materials for civics and English tests

When:
Saturday, November 19, 2011
9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Where:
Pacific McGeorge School of Law Student Center
3200 Fifth Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95817

For more information, click here.

Disclosure: Taryn Kinney is Communications Director for Assemblymember Roger Dickinson.

Lights & Cameras & Signs... Oh My!

2011-02-13T04:46:24Z

The City Management Academy's 3rd weekly Wednesday evening class brought the diverse group of 30 community association, organization and agency leaders together for the first of several off-site meetings this week.

Who knew how vast the city's Corporation Yard (on 24th Street south of Fruitridge) actually is: 20+ buildings containing shops, offices, storage, and more are spread across acres abutting the neighboring Executive Airport.

Some factoids we learned from city department heads this evening included:

Our city owns 2000+ parcels of land, containing more than 400 properties to maintain.
The city's amazing 311 Call Center receives 30,000 - 40,000 calls every month.
They answer an average of 10,000 calls JUST on trash pick-up issues every month! And yes, that means every day more than 300 city residents call about their garbage service -- every day!
We're one of only a handful of municipalities who manufacture our own street signs.
As budgets and need permit, we're replacing outdated & costly traffic signals AND street lights w/ incredibly efficient LED-based lamps.
Sacramento's Dept of Parks & Recreation maintains more than 220 city-owned parks (without Amy Poehler!)

Informative & interesting presentations were made to the group about:

Utilities (our water, sewer, and garbage services)
Fleet Management (the purchase & maintenance of our police cruisers, fire engines, commercial service equiment, etc.)
The transportation department (paving, concrete, sidewalks, curbs, street lights, street signs, traffic signals, cameras, and computerized underground pressure-sensing devices at major traffic intersections which activate signals as vehicle traffic flow warrants!)
The 311 Call Center struggling to maintain service levels with rapidly shrinking budgets and staff.
Our park & pool facilities (many more likely to be closed this coming summer season, again due to the still tanking tax revenue base and resulting cuts another fiscal cycle in the offing).

Various departments on site hosted lively "insider" tours of the mechanics' & street sign making shops, hi-tech traffic signal controller equipment (those refrigerator-sized shiny silver boxes we see at traffic intersections) and more from truly enthusiastic folks who were clearly proud to share their work environments with us.

Lots of questions came from CMA members wanting to connect the information being presented with issues of concern in their individual neighborhoods and organizations. There's a clear sense from many in the group of using these unique opportunities to communicate with and improve understanding between our city's staff and the residents, workers and stakeholders they represent.

Next week: we're back on the 5th floor of New City Hall for two presentations by the City's director of Economic Development and the Housing & Redevelopment Agency executive director.

Mayor's Initiatives Pep Rally Squad

2011-02-07T19:35:10Z

A Perspective:

2011 City Management Academy's Class #2:

Mayor Johnson Presents with his Initiatives’ Pep Rally Squad

The second session of the 2011 City Management Academy (CMA) 12-week classroom for neighborhood association and other community & business leaders began with a 4-minute, professionally-produced video presentation complete w/ pulsing background music and splashy visual edits which highlighted some of Mayor Johnson’s accomplishments while in office.

As the video ended, Wednesday evening’s first speaker, the mayor (waiting in the wings -- poised in the doorway shadows of a 5th floor New City Hall conference room, standing very still & quiet, head bowed, anticipating the room’s re- lighting and, perhaps, applause) was introduced to the class of 30 by an alumna of a previous CMA, and applause.

This observer experienced the next 3 hours as a press conference -- albeit a somewhat well-spun one. But instead of the typical professional spokesperson offering calm, carefully-scripted soundbites for the consumption of an equally professional audience of media, the eight speakers who presented on the Mayor’s “Vision & Initiatives” seemed at times to be on the verge of a pep rally cheerleading squad in their zeal and almost relentlessly positive enthusiasm. At moments during the evening, a more apt comparison might have been that of a pharmaceutical sales rep to a physician's medical office staff, meal included. The sell was on -- and even a hard sell, at times.

Johnson opened his remarks to the class by describing the just-watched video as much briefer than the 24 minutes of his annual State of the City speech given earlier in the week.

He reiterated the three most significant highlights of his “Think Big” vision concept:

Green Energy (the Emerald Valley) branding for the region’s economic growth
re-development of the J, K, L Streets downtown core district (including some version of an entertainment & sports complex known as the SacramentoFirst initiative)
a focus on improving educational resources and outcomes (perhaps initiating 3rd grade proficiency exams) and a "School Report Card" program for city schools

Several informed, specific questions from the room related to recent news including

the “Crash Tax” just passed by the Council
looming Housing & Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) funding cuts proposed by Governor Brown
county budget reductions affecting area social service agencies

got upbeat, non-specific, unsurprising responses from Johnson. For those wanting even more details of Johnson's currrent version of public speechifying, check out this great Sac Press article covering an appearance from the Mayor at the Oak Park Neighborhood Association the very next evening. Folks who saw both appearance noticed a strong similarity in content.

Following Johnson, we at the CMA were treated to a barrage of well-enough rehearsed spin-meisters hawking a variety pack of the Mayor's initiatives, some with the now-ubiquitous PowerPoint presentations so common to this style of efficient information and idea exchange:

- Anne Moore from Sacramento Steps Forward on the city’s homeless population challenges and solutions.
- Lauren Altdoerffer, Greenwise Sacramento, on the Mayor's branding push to create the "Emerald Valley" green initiatives.
- Andie Corso with STAND UP for Education, an education initiative to promote better city schools.
- Deborah Edwards of For Arts’ Sake on the "Any Given Child" & other programs to develop & promote Sacramento's arts and entertainment communities, venues and organizations.
- Keith Hart & MaryLynn Perry from Volunteer Sacramento on the push to make Sacramento's civic volunteerism "no longer nice but necessary" through various programs and agendas.

Others in the class may have gotten something in the way of new information, interesting ideas and, perhaps, encouragement from the presentations. The time constraints caused by a perhaps overly ambitious evening's agenda seemed to leave little opportunity for question-and-answer, or much more than rapidly moving through the speaker list.

What little time was available for questions drew mostly very specific, recent events-based attempts to get deeper explanations from presumptive key players, or at least those on the inside. But with few and brief noteworthy responses, and candor rarely in evidence, a gloss of urgent, near-keening optimism was the apparent substitute for a conversational exchange of ideas with the class.

Some might fairly call this writer a cynic, and only skeptical on my better days, but public relations -style mechanisms for outreach specific to a room of decidedly engaged civic leadership seems verging on contemptible to me. The evening’s lingering aura of non-inclusion of outsiders by the Mayor's "pep rally team" of initiative insiders, the result of so many superficial & slick presentations, left this participant feeling dissed and disengaged instead of welcomed and encouraged. And definitely not sold in any way. Grrrr...

Next week's class #3: a field trip to the city's 24th Street Corporation Yard & 311 Call Center Tour... so do stay tuned with this "storyline" as the 12 week odyssey continues. Next Sac Press update will be posted here online Friday night, fer shure!

Sac Re-Starts City Mgmt Academy

2011-01-29T08:46:39Z

After a few years of budget-induced hiatus, the city’s Neighborhood Services Department (NSD) revived a noteworthy community program Wednesday night.

The City Management Academy (CMA) http://www.cityofsacramento.org/city-management-academy// is an annual 12-week series of classroom presentations designed to educate community organizers to better understand how our city government operates. Wednesday evening's initial 3-hour session brought 30 eager, newly-appointed members of the "2011 CMA class" to their City Hall conference room home base, and the agenda and process for the next several months of presentations and city facility visits.

With substantial support from a core group of dedicated program alumni (more than 300 have “graduated” since the first class in 1995), and the ever-creative efforts of Vincene Jones and the NSD staff http://www.cityofsacramento.org/ns/ each week's agenda will offer the group access to top-level managers who'll explain & explore the current issues and challenges in various city departments, with the goal of facilitating better lines of communication between those citizens invested in community-issues solutions and the dedicated professionals working within the city administration tasked to do so in these economically challenging times. http://www.cityofsacramento.org/city-management-academy/what-is-it.cfm

Class members represent a mixture of Sacramento's engaged community leaderdship: neighborhood & homeowners association board members, non-profit agency staff, campaign ballot initiative organization leaders, and many others. An enthusiastic vibe from the room certainly indicated a strong level of commitment to active participation in this unique opportunity with access to Sacramento government officials for discussion of the issues and challenges facing the city's future.

**********

CLASS #1: After introductions and opening remarks, the group jumped right into its work with "Governnance Structure & Charter Officers". Candid, engaging presentations by three of Sacramento's city charter department leaders, Interim City Manager Gus Vina, City Clerk Shirley Concolino and Matt Ruyak from the City Attorney’s Office, will hopefully set the tone for subsequent class presentations.

First up was the wry wit of our current Interim City Manager http://www.cityofsacramento.org/cityman/index.html. In the city's recently somewhat of a roller-coaster "CEO" role, the timeliness of Gus Vina's presence was immediately understood by many in the class, since Tuesday's City Council meeting had just included the Council vote to fund a national candidate search process for a replacement for his job. Amidst the Council's atmosphere of presumed (a 5 - 4 vote) "no-confidence", Vina nevertheless said he'd been clear over time how much he does want the permanent position, and is contemplating whether to submit his resume for the job, versus choosing to "pursue other options".

Vina's good humor was evident as he transitioned into an excellent, mostly spin-free overview discussion of the basic structure and format of the city's governing bodies. Having encouraged the room to be candid, direct, and to interrupt wth questions, he comfortably fielded several challenges to some specific info he'd offered. More than a few times he described how much remains challenging in the coming budget cycles around balancing declining revenue while maintaining service levels vital to city residents, workers and businesses.

Never tedious or boring, several on-the-fly decisions kept Vina talking well past the scheduled time, with the class eager in agreement to delay a dinner break & continue the conversation w/ him. Some might see Gus Vina as a huge asset Sacramento could be well wise to avoid losing... among them me.

Shirley Concolino has spent nearly a decade streamlining and updating many operations of the City Clerk's office http://www.cityofsacramento.org/clerk/, often finding creative (and occasionally revenue-generating!) methods to handle staffing cuts while maintaining vital components of the city government's day-to-day workings. She rightfully boasted of various ongoing "green" changes which have substantially reduced the volumes of paper the city must generate in its legally-required documents and forms collection. Our city is on-track for eventual "digital signature" technology which will further reduce waste, and greatly improve turn-around timelines in all sorts of departments and processes. And many of the class were pleased to learn of the very efficient Passport service appointments the Clerk's Office offers, including photos, which are said to much less onerous than what's avalable at the US Post Office a block away!

The City Attorney's Office http://www.cityofsacramento.org/cityattorney// was represented by Matt Ruyak, currently Supervising Deputy City Attorney of the Transactional / Advisory Section, who did an excellent job of describing (to the nearly all non-lawyers in the class) the different aspects of counsel and advice the legal team (approx. 50) provides to a broad array of city government. Several class members were interested in learning more about the CAO's Justice For Neighbors Program, a state-funded pilot project which helps citizens rid neighborhoods of problem properties (tenants and landlords, evictions and foreclosures) through newly streamlined regulations and procedures.

**********

This contributor will offer Sac Press readers a wrap-up from each of the upcoming 11 week’s classes, with information and perspective for citizens (like me!) who are interested in how civic involvement in local government is vital to sustaining quality of life here in Sacramento.

Please follow this storyline for Friday evening articles on each week's class. Announced class topics http://www.cityofsacramento.org/city-management-academy/curriculum-highlights.cfm include public safety, housing & redevelopment, parks & recreation, census redistricting, code & permit compliance, and more. And we're scheduled to visit both the city's 311 Call Center http://www.cityofsacramento.org/generalservices/311/ & Public Safety Center as well.

COMING UP NEXT FRIDAY: Mayor Kevin Johnson and his team discuss various of his Sacramento's Vision & Initiatives including: Greenwise http://greenwisesacramento.org/, Steps Forward, STAND UP for Education, For Arts' Sake http://www.forartsake.org/.

Citizenship ceremony for young Americans

2010-12-28T22:32:13Z

When Nancy Swift and husband Tom Chandler adopted 2-year-old Meskerem, Swift met Meskerem’s biological mother, who had one request: that her child be given every possible opportunity.

On Tuesday morning, Swift, Chandler and Meskerem made the trip from their home in Mt. Shasta to Sacramento, where Meskerem joined 23 other children aged 12 and under in receiving their citizenship certificates.

According to Swift, receiving the certificate is a big part of providing her adopted toddler with the opportunity her biological mother asked for.

“She’s been such a blessing to us,” Swift said. “This is finalizing her status here in this country. It’s been a long journey to becoming a family.”

The 24 children in the ceremony were already American citizens whose parents are citizens – whether naturalized or native – but the certificates they received will serve in lieu of birth certificates as proof of citizenship.

“I think if Lina could speak, she’d be proud,” said Khalid Bachkar of Fairfield, who brought his 2-year-old daughter to the ceremony.

“I applied for the certificate because I knew in the future she’d need it,” he said. “It’s important for school. I want her to be accepted for scholarships, and you have to be an American citizen.”

Bachkar is a teacher who brought his family to the United States from Morocco.

Huy Dang, an 8-year-old from Vietnam who now calls Rancho Cordova home, sat in the front row for the ceremony, calmly flipping through the booklet each child was given while clutching a small American flag.

“It’s good to be an American,” Huy said. He added that he enjoyed learning the oath of citizenship, the Pledge of Allegiance and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Jasmeen Nat, an 8-year-old from India, echoed Huy’s sentiments.

“I always wanted to be an American,” she said. “I was 2 years old when I came over here. I want to be a doctor.”

The ceremony was put on by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. According to spokeswoman Sharon Rummery, the ceremonies are typically held twice per year – once in December and once near the Fourth of July.

“We don’t have to have the ceremonies, but it’s a little something we can do,” she said.

For most of the children, getting citizenship didn’t make an impact – as they were not present for their parents’ naturalization ceremonies, during which they technically became citizens as well, she added.

"This is something they will take with them for the rest of their lives,” she said.

All 24 children took the same oath their parents did, renouncing their former citizenship and swearing allegiance to the United States.

The group represented 12 countries: India, the Philippines, Moldova, Vietnam, Ukraine, Fiji, El Salvador, Afghanistan, Morocco, China, Thailand and Ethiopia.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Children's Citizenship Oath Ceremony

2010-07-02T01:02:30Z

We seem to take our citizenship for granted and we expect all the liberties and rights of our constitution. Today a group of 10 children were presented with certificates of U.S. citizenship. The event took place at the Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum. The Children’s Oath Ceremony included one child each from the countries of China, Vietnam, Singapore and Poland. Pakistan, Mexico and the Philippines each had two new citizens.

The small Schoolhouse Museum was packed with the new young citizens as well as family members and friends. The ceremony began at 10 a.m. and various members of the media were in attendance. The site of the event was chosen by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). It was chosen for its fun and historic setting and also in observance of the upcoming 4th of July holiday. I think this will be an especially more significant holiday for our new citizens and their families.

The ceremony started off with our national anthem sung by Jeremy. Kathryn Radtkey-Gaither, California’s Undersecretary of Education, started off the ceremony by welcoming the children and their families. Sharon Rummery, Regional Media Manager with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) indicated that they try to hold this type of special events two times a year for children younger than 14.

USCIS Sacramento Field Office Director Michael Biggs gave a brief speech about what it took for the children to receive citizenship. Mr. Biggs then led the children in an oath and called each by name to receive their certificates of citizenship. As each child went up to receive their certificate you could see how proud the parents and family friends were. Genuine happiness glowed from the children and everyone else in the room. In the back, Lydia Hastings, a volunteered organist for the event played in the background.

After the event I went outside with a cameraman/interviewer from Channel 19 (Univision) to interview 13 year old Bryant Guillermo Martinez Castañeda and 10 year old Christian Martinez Castañeda. Both brothers were born in Tijuana, Mexico. The family currently lives in Tracy, Christian is in the 5th grade while his older brother will be starting High School. Their mom, Maria Socorro Martinez is originally from Jalisco, Mexico and the dad Guillermo Martinez is from Mexicali, Mexico. In order for family members to become citizens at least one parent has to already be a citizen. In this case Mr. Martinez was a citizen first and now his children followed. Maria will become a citizen after her 3rd year of being a resident. Like many immigrant families that have followed a similar path one of the parents lived in the U.S. while the other remained in their native country.

The whole event was very educational. I’m glad Sharon Rummery was there to answer all questions. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy her job and was very willing to provide information about the citizenship process. Sacramento has an office located at 650 Capitol Mall where any questions about how to get the citizenship process started can be answered. They can provide interested parties with the proper documents and are available to help fill these out. Appointments can be set up, help is available with the background check process and are more than willing to guide anyone interested in becoming a citizen through the paperwork and other requirements.

One of the most fascinating facts that Sharon Rummery shared was that approximately 800 new citizens are sworn in on a monthly basis in Sacramento. San Francisco can swear in around 1,300 new citizens a month.

Photos:

1 - Schoolhouse, 2 - Jeremy, 3 - Michael Biggs, 4 - Kathryn Radtkey-Gaither

4 thru 8 - Young Citizens

9 - Lydia Hastings

10 - Christian, 11 - Bryant, 13 - Maria Socorro, Christian, Bryant, Guillermo Martinez

Democratic Volunteers Register New Citizens

2010-03-18T04:08:39Z

One Wednesday every month, if you drive down J Street, you will see hundreds of people lined up outside of Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. New Americans born all around the world are waiting to celebrate one of the proudest days of their lives. Once inside, these patriots will take their oaths and be sworn in as new citizens of our great country.

If you look closely, you will also see a number of folks going through the line, carrying clipboards. These hardworking volunteers are helping the new citizens register to vote, so that they can fulfill one of their core civic responsibilities. Engaged citizens taking part in the process, helping to elect our leaders and making decisions on important issues that face our city, county, state and nation is the beating heart of every vibrant democracy.

The Women Democrats of Sacramento County bring out a dozen or more volunteers each month to help register these new citizens. The crew led by Ralph Sifers and Women Democrats President Kate Lenox registered 130 voters yesterday with a smile and heartfelt congratulations.

This month the team was joined by City Council candidate Ryan Chin, who spent his lunch break with the team. As the son of immigrant parents, he has seen first-hand how important it is to ensure that there is a fair path to citizenship for hard working, law abiding residents of our country.

The next New Citizens Swearing In and Voter Registration Drive will be on Wednesday, April 21. New volunteers are always welcome.