USCIS does fund churches running citizenship and English-language programs — but not for ESL classes alone. The Citizenship and Integration Grant Program is built around a bundle: citizenship instruction paired with naturalization application services. A congregation offering only conversational English classes, without a way to legally help participants file their naturalization paperwork, doesn't fit the program's core structure on its own.
USCIS's Citizenship and Integration Grant Program funds public and nonprofit organizations that provide citizenship instruction and naturalization application services to lawful permanent residents preparing to become U.S. citizens. The defining feature is the pairing: this isn't a general adult-education or ESL grant. It's designed for organizations helping someone move all the way from civics and English preparation through actually filing and completing their naturalization application.
Faith-based status is not a barrier here. Past recipients of this program have included community and faith-based groups, public libraries, and adult education and literacy organizations — a church with the right program structure is a recognized fit, not an edge case. Being a congregation isn't the eligibility hurdle; the real question is whether your program includes the legal-services half of the equation.
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For most congregations, the realistic path into this funding isn't becoming a DOJ-accredited legal service provider from scratch — it's partnering with one that already exists. Many communities have an accredited nonprofit legal service organization, a Catholic Charities affiliate, a legal aid society, or an immigration attorney willing to formalize a partnership where the church provides space, instructors, and community trust, while the accredited partner handles the application-services component. That combined structure is what a USCIS application is built to fund. Document the partnership formally before applying — a verbal understanding isn't sufficient for a federal grant narrative.
If your congregation's program is ESL and civics education without a naturalization legal-services partner, it's still a fundable ministry — just through different sources. Community foundations, state adult-education funding streams, and some CDBG public-service allocations support English-language and integration programming without requiring the legal-services bundle USCIS requires. See our community development grants for churches guide for how CDBG public-service funding can support ESL classes and similar community programs, and our refugee and immigrant ministry grants guide for the broader immigrant-services funding landscape, including resettlement-specific programs this citizenship-focused program doesn't cover. Congregations pairing ESL classes with job-readiness training should also see our workforce development grants for churches guide, since local workforce boards frequently combine language and employment pathways.
See our refugee and immigrant ministry grants guide for the broader immigrant-services funding landscape, and our Christian grants for nonprofits guide for foundation and denominational sources that can support ESL-only programming. Contact us with questions about a specific program.
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