The Chicago Office of New Americans (ONA) is dedicated to improving services and engaging Chicago’s global immigrant communities through enhanced collaboration with community organizations, academic institutions, and the private sector. Through the creation of the ONA, the City has affirmed and strengthened its support for immigrant communities, entrepreneurs, and businesses.

The ONA has undertaken a series of initiatives and administrative reforms to achieve Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s goal of making Chicago the most immigrant-friendly city in the country, including launching the New Americans Small Business Series that fostered small business growth in immigrant communities, creating Citizenship Corners at Chicago Public Libraries to host citizenship workshops and disseminate information on the naturalization process, and opening up nearly 23,000 internship and job opportunities for DREAMers, or undocumented youth. Most recently, Mayor Emanuel partnered with Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti New York City Mayor de Blasio and Citi to jointly launch Cities for Citizenship, which will enable cities to expand naturalization and financial capability programs, access to legal assistance, as well as microloans and financial counseling, boosting economic opportunity for immigrants and communities nationwide.