Bronx Dominican Parade and Party Time

Bronx Dominican Festival Begins
By Howard Giske

The celebration of the Bronx Dominican Festival began Friday July 18th, at East 173rd St., and the parade will be on Sunday July 27th froom 11 am on the Grand Concourse, I guess starting at East 161st St.

An interesting attraction was the display of the CUNY Citizenship Project and CUNY Immigration Center, run out of the City University of NY (CUNY). This organization has offices in all five boroughs. At the CUNY Express Immigration Center, located at 560 West 181st St, in Manhattan, people can walk in without an appointment, or make an appointment by calling 212-568-4680. In the Bronx, the CUNY Citizenship Project office is at Hostos Community College Immigration Center, 120 East 149th St., at the corner of Walton Ave., at the Savoy Building, 1st Floor, Bronx, NY 10451, telephone (718) 518-4395. Also, their website is www.cuny.edu/citizenshipnow . Many immigration forms can be filled out and filed with free help and advice from lawyers and paralegals at the CUNY Immigration Center. That way, immigrants only have to pay USCIS (US Center for Immigration Services) fees and can get free legal help. If one goes to a private lawyer, the same services can easily cost hundreds of dollars.

Representing the CUNY Citizenship Project at the Dominican Festival was Carlos Sierra, who says that new immigrants first need help in getting their green card, and citizenship. Other matters that the Citizenship Project is concerned with are to help people, working with the NY Daily News, to get call-in immigration advice. They took over 15,000 phone calls last year on immigration questions. These efforts also include the use of CUNY campus facilities by the USCIS for naturalization swearing-in ceremonies for new citizens. CUNY is a center of immigration law education, so it has many law students available to volunteer on the Citizenship Project. The other initiative that CUNY Immigration Centers are involved in is providing assistance in education. CUNY operates the school of Professional Studies, which includes various programs, up to graduate school level. Programs also include the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL). CUNY offers courses in many aspects of adult continuing education.