Video campaign highlights relatable journeys
Human-centered design is built to handle complexity — which is especially useful in naturalization work. The prospect of applying for citizenship can be intimidating, embarrassing, emotional, idealistic — or all of the above. To meet that complexity with clarity and encouragement, the Communications Pilot created and shared a wide range of citizenship stories: short video testimonials designed to reflect Houston’s diversity and help eligible-to-naturalize residents see themselves in the journey.
Maria Haydee
Haydee, a Salvadoran mother of two who came to the United States as a teenager in the early 1980s, calls herself a naturally anxious person. With the help of her church, she took citizenship classes and studied English. But when she took the citizenship test, she froze at an interview question and failed.
Haydee was determined to try again. She carried her citizenship manual in her purse. She insisted that her husband and children quiz her while she was driving. Finally, rather than wait a year to retake the test in Spanish, Haydee took the test in English. She could tell it went better.
“Can I give you a hug?” she asked her interviewer at the end. The woman said she could, adding, “Congratulations.”
If she could overcome anxiety and failure, Haydee said, other lawful permanent residents can too. “It’s all in the effort,” she said.
Vestine
For Rwandan refugee Vestine, naturalization meant gaining agency in a life marked by the Rwandan genocide. In the United States, Vestine had married and had twin boys. But she couldn’t speak English. Then she learned about FAM, a nonprofit that sponsors a weekly Women’s Empowerment Group with other African women. Group director Ndjabuka guided Vestine to English classes and encouraged her to self-study using YouTube. When Vestine took the citizenship exam, she passed.
“Now I am an American,” she said. “I love it. Nobody says, ‘Stop it.’ Nobody says, ‘Hey, don’t do this.’ You do whatever you want. U.S. citizenship gives you strength to tackle any challenge.”
Gustavo
Naturalization was a matter of pragmatism, by contrast, for Gustavo, a Mexican father of two elementary school girls. Citizenship, Gustavo knew, would maximize future possibilities for his daughters. Though some feel that lawful permanent residency offers all they need, Gustavo said, “For me, citizenship means opportunity. It opens the door to so many opportunities that you don’t have when you are a permanent resident: access to medicine, education, and security.”
He urged fellow Mexican immigrants who are eligible to apply, too. “You don’t stop being Mexican just because you sign the American document,” he said. “There’s nothing—nothing to lose by trying.”
