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Citizenship Toolkit from US Government

Pat Williams Posts: 4 Join Date: 5/11/03 Recent Posts	Citizenship Toolkit from US Government 5:27 PM EDT 7/24/07 Top U.S. Office of Citizenship Gives Libraries Free Civics and Citizenship Toolkit By Laura K. Galos July 15, 2007 The U.S. Office of Citizenship (USOC), head of a multi-agency Federal Task Force on New Americans, announced in June its new Civics and Citizenship Toolkit, created specially to aid public libraries in their immigrant outreach efforts. Packed in a sturdy portfolio box, the Toolkit contains a Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants booklet in English and Spanish; civics flash cards; a booklet of short, comprehensive civics lessons; and a pocket-sized copy of the Citizens Almanac, including text of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. A multimedia 2-disc DVD and Flash presentation is also provided as an introduction to U.S. history and an overview of the naturalization process. As the number of naturalizations in the United States steadily rises, libraries continue to play a key role in providing information to new immigrants, especially for the many who are settling in communities which have limited experience with immigrant populations. For librarians looking to provide services for and involve new immigrants, a thin report on library services for immigrants is also included in the Toolkit. The report details the results of a working group made up of representatives from public libraries, educators working with English language learners, and immigrant community-based organizations. It offers brief descriptions highlighting workshops, collections, outreach, and other services that have been successfully provided by libraries across the nation. In addition, a web-based training module for educators is scheduled to be launched in October with course materials covering the U.S. government, the naturalization process, and civics. Eight regional training conferences for instructors will begin concurrently, touching on the same subjects, for educators looking to improve and expand their teaching abilities. The first three training conferences will be held in Raleigh, NC, Miami, FL, and Las Vegas, NV.

Zola Maddison Posts: 39 Join Date: 5/1/07 Recent Posts	Re: Citizenship Toolkit from US Government 12:37 PM EDT 7/25/07 as a reply to Pat Williams. Top Thanks for providing this information - it really is such a great resource. I wanted to post the link to the toolkit: http://www.citizenshiptoolkit.gov/toolkit.htm from the Government Printing Office (GPO). I also wanted to point out that many U.S. Government agencies have created educational toolkits on various topics. They are generally created to be classroom kits but I've found them to be very helpful working with ESL patrons because the lessons have a lot of nice graphics and they are generally multimedia. Any Federal Depository Library should carry the citizenship toolkit - be sure to check out what other toolkits are out there! Here's a link to a map to help you locate your nearest Depository Library: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html.