Many people assume that applying for citizenship is a step all noncitizen residents take. In reality, the process is long, complex and often intimidating. According to onepercentforamerica.org, “each year, approximately 9 million noncitizen residents are eligible to apply for citizenship. However, only about 800,000 (or one out of 10) apply.” Aware of this, Project Citizenship Commonwealth Corps Service Members Juliette Vemmer and Lily Freeman ran the organization’s Information Table on Tuesday, Jan. 6, from 2-4 p.m. at the Brookline Public Library. Their primary aim was to provide free assistance to people seeking to apply for U.S. citizenship.

Vemmer said the upcoming workshop on Jan. 13 in the library is designed to make citizenship services more accessible to green card holders.

“We’re running this community workshop in Brookline so that we can provide free citizenship services to eligible green card holders in Massachusetts and broadly [in] New England,” Vemmer said. “We like to have community workshops like this because it gets us out into the community and actually working face-to-face with clients that are interested in applying for citizenship.”

According to Vemmer, the non-profit organization helps with the multiple-step process of becoming a U.S. citizen. Vemmer said this process is available for people who are eligible for citizenship which means they have been a green card holder for five years or have been married to a U.S. citizen for three years.

“At the workshop, our volunteers and pro bono attorneys will fill out the citizenship application with them, and after the workshop, our legal team will review it, make sure that it looks okay, and then submit it to the government,” Vemmer said. “After it’s submitted to the government, it will take about eight to 14 months before the person is then taken for an interview, and then eventually has their oath ceremony, and they’ll become a U.S. citizen.”

Freeman said the Project Citizenship organization also helps with deduction of the cost of the application for those who fit the criteria.

“The application for citizenship costs $760, which is pretty substantial. But if they receive benefits like MassHealth or food stamps, then the application is going to be free and we help them apply for that,” Freeman said.

Vemmer also said the project’s staffed services such as their volunteers and pro bono attorneys help the clients overcome barriers like language difficulties.

“A lot of people take English classes because the citizenship application has a language requirement. The application itself can be lengthy and challenging with a lot of legal caveats that can be difficult, and our services make it easier for people to actually go through that with somebody helping them along,” Vemmer said.

Freeman said that over the past couple of years, more people have been applying for citizenship, which developed an increase in demand for Project Citizen.

“Citizenship provides security and it’s the best protection against deportation. Even though there’s increased fear surrounding applying for citizenship and interacting with the process, there has been an increase in people applying,” Freeman said.

Freeman said that Project Citizenship aims to make the process as accessible as possible by working in public spaces and accepting walk-ins on the day of the event.

“The Brookline Public Library is easy to find; it’s well known. People come here all the time, and so it’s a familiar space which helps them feel safer in a process that’s pretty daunting and vulnerable,” Freeman said. “We do accept walk-ins the day of our workshop. If someone’s coming by and they’re interested, we can do a quick screening on them, and if they’re eligible, we can help them apply the same day.”

Tom Moy from Brighton became interested in the Project Citizen Information Table as he was returning books to the library. While the workshop is a local initiative, Moy said he fears federal authorities might intervene in these safe local spaces (like public libraries) to conduct enforcement actions or suddenly change policy in a way that disrupts the path to citizenship.

“It piqued my interest because of the current status of what’s going on between many people,” Moy said. “It’s terrible what’s going on currently. This would not have been a situation six years ago, let alone two years ago.”