By Gina Veazey
Maribel Carranceja wasn’t prepared for the tears. But her 7-year-old daughter couldn’t understand it. Why wasn’t Mommy allowed to come with her?
It was a tense moment after a long flight. Carranceja worried about her child, a U.S. citizen, in the immigration line – alone. But those were the rules. They would have to split up.
“I said, ‘You know what, sweetie? Go to that window and Mommy will go to that other window, and at the end of the line, we will meet each other again,’” Carranceja recalls with a stiff upper lip and a nod.
Becoming a U.S. citizen became a high priority for Carranceja that day. She already had a green card through her husband, a U.S. citizen. And, she had met other requirements to apply for naturalization. But the dream of becoming an American citizen herself remained a dream unfulfilled. That’s because the cost kept naturalization out of reach, as it does for many immigrants.
At $725, the fee to apply for naturalization leads as many as 91% of the estimated 9.2 million immigrants eligible for naturalization to abandon their dreams of becoming an American citizen, according to research by One Percent for America (OPA).
Support for Citizenship
When residents at Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads discovered how many of the workers caring for them were eligible and eager to become an American citizen – but the fee presented a barrier – they sprang into action. Residents worked with the Goodwin Living leadership team to quickly hammer out a framework for the program, then they began to share their plans with other residents and team members at all three Goodwin House campuses in and around Alexandria, Va. In just two weeks, the residents had collected $40,000.
That was 2018. Five years later, an enduring partnership between Goodwin Living, its charitable Goodwin Living Foundation, residents, and team members continues to support workers pursuing naturalization.
Resident volunteers and team members tutor workers, preparing them to pass the civics and English language tests at the in-person naturalization interview. (See the sidebar, The Naturalization Interview, p. XX.) And, importantly, the Foundation removes the financial barrier to naturalization by providing a grant that covers the application fee. The program is structured as part of the company’s employee benefits, which assures program administration and promotion is streamlined.
A Dream Realized
Since 2018, the citizenship program, which is available to employees after six months of service, has helped 130 team members and 12 family members to pursue citizenship. Although there is no requirement for team members to stay with Goodwin Living after accepting a grant, most do. Retention for this group is one year beyond the organization’s average tenure of six years.
Carranceja is one of those success stories. She landed a job with Goodwin Living in 2016, rising quickly to a full-time supervisory position in dining services. Inspired by a colleague who had become a U.S. citizen through the Goodwin Living program, Carranceja applied and was approved for a grant in 2019. She wasted no time submitting her naturalization application.
The wait for an in-person interview with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was exhausting. Carranceja expected a six-month wait, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay. She used the time to finalize paperwork, and with help from residents, she stayed ready for the tests by practicing and quizzing.
The day finally arrived in September 2020. “I was excited and nervous at the same time, because after waiting for so long it is finally the day that would change my life completely,” Carranceja recalls thinking. She says her voice trembled through the interview and tests. But she passed.
“’Congratulations. You are now a citizen. Welcome to the United States of America,’” she says the interviewer told her before leaving the room to retrieve some paperwork.
Her first moments as a U.S. citizen were spent reflecting on her motivation to become a citizen and the program that had made it possible. “I just cried, and I said thank you, God, for this opportunity,” she says.
A Place of Welcome
Immigrants already make up a large part of the senior living workforce. Immigrants held nearly one in four (23.5%) jobs in the industry overall and slightly more (25.7%) in direct care roles as of 2017, according to research published in the journal Health Affairs. At Goodwin Living, nearly 27% of its team members do not have U.S. citizenship.
Given the size of the immigrant population at Goodwin Living and in the senior living workforce overall, Valerie Burke, chief philanthropy officer of the Goodwin Living Foundation, says the organization’s citizenship program is one tool that can help to address the labor shortfall now and in the future.
“We’ve got team members who struggle, they work two and three jobs, and they’re trying to educate their children and themselves. It takes a lot of money to save up $725,” observes Burke.
“We are in a workforce crisis today, and we will be for the next 20 years,” Burke notes, pointing to the slowing birth rate and rising senior population.
Indeed, due to the combined effects of population aging and the slowing birth rate, the U.S. Census projects that by 2030 immigration will become the primary means of U.S. population increase, even as the rate of immigration remains relatively static. The U.S. Census analysis further projects 72% of the foreign-born population, but only 56% of the native-born population, to be between the working ages of 18 and 64 by 2030.
Total employment in the combined senior care industry is expected to near 8.3 million by 2040, according to a new report from Argentum, Workforce Projections for Senior Care Sectors. If projections hold the industry will pick up an additional 2.4 million jobs. The greatest need for hiring, however, will stem from the nearly 17.8 million positions expected to turn over in that period. Accounting for job growth and attrition, the total number of needed employees is 20.2 million over two decades.
In addition to the benefits of its citizenship program directly, Burke says Goodwin Living aims to be “an intentional place of welcome” through its actions. “Just being a place where we know more about you, we can pronounce names, and we care about people’s families, I think that’s important, the culture piece – and just really caring – residents to team members, team members to residents and team members to team members.”
It’s an environment that encourages every team member to bring their “whole self” to work. “You’re not worried about hiding that you are a Hindu, because we offer prayer space for you, and we’ve helped you get your U.S. citizenship,” Burke continues. “If you’re fasting, we want to make sure that you’re comfortable and we’re not asking you to eat.”
Culture for Care
Today, Mirabel Carranceja continues as dining services supervisor, a role that allows her to form strong bonds with residents and to identify those who can benefit from extra attention. Sometimes, she notices that a resident doesn’t have anyone living nearby. “I give them more time and more care, because I know that they need people like us to care for them.”
Burke observes that for many immigrants, “A very big piece of their culture is honoring their elders. The joy and love and respect that they give to our residents is palpable, and it’s infectious in a good way.”
It is an unfortunate reality that close, personal relationships with residents frequently lead to grief. Carranceja recalls the first time it happened to her. “At first, I promised myself that I’m not going to be close to anyone anymore,” says Carranceja. Unable to hold back tears, she says, “But I failed.”
Carranceja told herself, “It’s not gonna work that way. I said, if you wanted to not feel that way, you should just quit your job, because this job is not for you.” She estimates that she has been close to at least 100 residents who have died since that time.
“This is not just about work. This is how my grandparents and my mom raised me to be – this person who loves elderly people. If I were to choose again, I would probably be choosing this kind of job over and over again.”
‘The Time of Our Life’
Most of the residents who volunteer to tutor workers pursuing naturalization have never taught before, but resident Judy Hansen has that covered.
As coordinator of the tutoring program, Hansen not only pairs students with tutors, she also works to help tutors be effective teachers. It’s a big job. “I’ve got 22 residents on my list who want to tutor or who are tutoring right now,” she says. “We have six pairings right now, meaning six residents and six team members who are working together. Just in the last month-and-a-half or so, two of our team members have become new citizens working with a resident to help them.”
“I think we are throwing on its head the stereotype of seniors who are in a continuing care retirement community,” she observes. “There are a lot of people my age, younger and older, who are still vibrant and intellectual and have these really fascinating and interesting careers and who find tutoring to be a wonderful thing.”
Hansen’s own career certainly qualifies as fascinating. It started in a social studies classroom but eventually took her to India, then to Eastern Europe, including to Ukraine and Moldova, where she was an advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). After retirement, she served as an English as a second language (ESL) tutor for the Literacy Council in Northern Virginia and at the Blue Ridge Literacy Council in North Carolina, which also operated a citizenship program.
Hansen has tutored one student herself as part of the Goodwin Living citizenship program. “When I was asked to tutor, I thought, this is a natural. I would just love to be able to do this,” says Hansen.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions at the time, Hansen was not able to join her student, Haja Kamara, when she took her oath as a naturalized citizen, but Kamara sent Hansen a selfie from the ceremony.
“The next day, Haja was at my door with her voter registration application in one hand, which I had given to her, and her passport application in the other hand,” recounts Hansen. “She said I want your help to fill these out to be sure I’m doing them correctly. Haja voted for the first time in the next election, and she was very proud of the fact that she had done that.”
Hansen says she would love to tutor again, but she wants everyone who has volunteered to have that experience, because “It is extraordinarily rewarding. I think the benefit that not a lot of us really thought about when we got into it was the fact that we’d become such good friends with these individuals.
“We are having the time of our life. And part of it is being intellectually challenged and feeling that we are doing something for our community and something for these individuals that are really so interested in becoming a citizen.”
