	Background

		U.S. USCIS Has Developed and Implemented Programs to Support Immigrant Integration but Could Strengthen Assessment of Its Grant Program

		USCIS Conducts Outreach and Develops Resources for Citizenship and Naturalization

From 2008 to 2011, OoC reported conducting more than 300 significant  outreach events to promote citizenship awareness and civic integration  and establish partnerships with governmental and nongovernmental  organizations to help encourage immigrants’ civic integration. With funding in fiscal years  2009 through 2011, OoC provided grants to a myriad of governmental  and nongovernmental organizations, including public school systems,  community colleges, community and faith-based organizations, adult  education organizations, public libraries, and literacy organizations, under  the following grant categories:
Direct Services Grant – Citizenship Instruction Only. In addition to these outputs, OoC has collected some  information on outcome measures to demonstrate the extent to which  grantees’ programs are helping program participants complete the  naturalization process, such as collecting data on participants’  naturalization examination results and the proportion of participants who  received grantees’ services and self-reported that they naturalized during  the year of the grant program. Specifically,  USCIS reported that its data on the number of participants who received  naturalization application services and passed the naturalization  examination, and who ultimately became naturalized, were incomplete in  part because grantees relied on data that were self-reported by program  participants, and not all program participants reported to grantees  whether they passed the naturalization examination and naturalized. However, USCIS has not yet conducted such an evaluation. In January 2011, USCIS drafted a statement of work for a contractor to  refine the strategic plan for the grant program and develop an evaluation  plan that would allow USCIS to measure the grant program’s  performance and long-term impact, and which may provide options to  help address these limitations. According to USCIS, it did not complete  this statement of work or award a contract for an evaluation plan  because, at that time, the agency was uncertain whether it would receive  appropriations in fiscal year 2011 to continue the grant program. DHS’s  fiscal year 2011 appropriations act, enacted in April 2011, allowed the use  of appropriated funds for the grant program. USCIS has also established relationships with a number of  nongovernmental organizations involved in immigrant integration through  OoC’s outreach efforts and its grant program. Establishing interim milestones for such evaluations,  including milestones for initiating and completing the evaluations, could  help USCIS strengthen its planning efforts for the program. Recommendation for Executive Action

To strengthen USCIS’s plans for evaluating the Citizenship and  Integration Grant Program, we recommend that to the extent that USCIS  receives program funding in fiscal years 2012 and 2013, the Director of  USCIS establish interim milestones for conducting the planned internal  and external evaluations of the grant program. DHS stated that to the extent that USCIS receives appropriated program  funding and is allowed to use the funding for evaluation purposes, it  would establish interim milestones for conducting an internal evaluation of  the grant program in fiscal year 2012 and an external evaluation of the  grant program in fiscal year 2013. Citizenship and Immigration  Services (USCIS) has taken to implement immigrant integration programs  and the extent to which it has assessed the effectiveness of its grant  program and (2) the federal mechanism to coordinate governmental and  nongovernmental immigrant integration efforts. In  some cases, local officials serve as liaisons between city offices on  activities that foster immigrant integration.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 2009, about 39 million foreign-born people lived in the United States. Immigrant integration is generally described as a process that helps immigrants achieve self-sufficiency, political and civic involvement, and social inclusion. The Department of Homeland Securitys (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is responsible for a key activity that fosters political and civic involvementthe naturalization and citizenship process. USCISs Office of Citizenship (OoC) supports this process mainly through grants to immigrant-serving entities, but also with outreach activities and education materials. Other governmental and nongovernmental entities play a role in immigrant integration as well. GAO was asked to determine (1) the steps USCIS has taken to implement its integration programs and the extent to which it has assessed its grant program in particular, and (2) what federal mechanism exists to coordinate integration efforts. Among other things, GAO examined documentation on mission objectives and performance measures on immigrant integration and conducted interviews with officials in a nongeneralizable sample of cities and community-based organizations as well as senior USCIS officials about their immigrant integration efforts.

What GAO Found

USCIS has implemented immigrant integration efforts through outreach activities, educational materials, and a grant program, and established various measures for assessing its grant program, but has not yet set interim milestones for planned evaluations of the program. From 2008 to 2011, OoC reported conducting more than 300 significant outreach events to promote citizenship awareness and civic integration. Further, nearly half of OoCs funding over the past 3 fiscal yearsabout $19.8 millionwas spent on grants aimed at preparing immigrants for the naturalization process. The grants were made to a myriad of governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including public school systems and community and faith-based organizations. OoC has established various measures for assessing grantees performance under its grant program. These measures include, for example, the number of participants enrolled in grantees citizenship instruction and naturalization preparation programs, the number of participants who passed their naturalization examinations, and the proportion of participants who received grantees services and self-reported that they naturalized during the year of the grant program. However, USCIS has identified inherent limitations with these measures, such as that its data were incomplete in part because data were self-reported by program participants, and not all program participants reported to grantees whether they passed the naturalization examination and naturalized. In January 2011, USCIS drafted a statement of work for a contractor to develop an evaluation plan that would allow USCIS to measure the grant programs performance and long-term impact, and this may help address these limitations. According to USCIS, it did not complete this statement of work or award a contract for an evaluation plan because, at that time, the agency was uncertain whether it would receive appropriations in fiscal year 2011 to continue the grant program, and the program has no authorizing statute. The final fiscal year 2011 law, enacted in April 2011, did allow the use of appropriations to fund the grant program, but USCIS did not proceed with developing an evaluation plan. In November 2011, USCIS reported that it plans to conduct an internal and external evaluation of the program in fiscal years 2012 and 2013, respectively, contingent on appropriations for the grant program. However, USCIS has not yet set interim milestones for these evaluations. Setting such milestones, contingent on the receipt of funding, could help USCIS strengthen its planning for conducting those evaluations, consistent with program management standards.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that USCIS set interim milestones for an internal and external evaluation of its immigrant integration grant program, to the extent that it receives fiscal years 2012 and 2013 appropriations for the program. DHS concurred with our recommendation.