For immigrant Adriana Zambrano and others, becoming naturalized U.S. citizens is a choice to belong to and be a part of the history and future of the country.

“It is a choice that honors our desire to truly be part of something amazing, to really belong,” she said. “I’m not from here, but now that I’m a citizen, I belong here.”

Those who chose to make the U.S. their home also choose to live up to its virtues, she said, to test the theory of its foundation and to make it a part of their own stories.

“We take the nation’s challenges and its anxieties and we make them our own,” Zambrano said. “And with citizenship comes a full participation in society, the precious right to vote and to have a say in steering our way to a more perfect union."

Zambrano is program director for Aldea – The People’s Justice Center at 532 Walnut Street.

The organization, which assists immigrants through legal and other services, is partnering with the Literacy Council of Reading-Berks to help 200 legal, permanent Berks County residents achieve citizenship through training and application assistance.

The effort is made possible by a $250,000 grant to the council from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Ryan Breisch, executive director of the council. announced the funding award Wednesday morning at a reception at the Berks County Community Foundation, 237 Court St.

The funding is the largest federal grant received by the council in its nearly 55-year history, he said

The grant will enable the literacy council, 35 S. Dwight St., Spring Township, to expand its current citizenship training program eightfold, Breisch said, as well as offer naturalization application services through Aldea.

The need for citizenship services in Berks, especially in Reading, is enormous, said Jim Wood, president of the council’s board of directors.

According to the 2019 American Community Survey, Wood said, 19% of Reading’s almost 90,000 residents are foreign born.

The need for citizenship instruction greatly outpaces the former capacity of the council, he said.

“So we’re extremely, I really mean extremely, grateful to the Department of Homeland Security for selecting the literacy council,” Wood said, “and for the effort to provide this much needed boost to our community.”

Some of the most frequently asked questions of citizenship applicants are, “Where can I go to learn?” and  “Where can I learn English?” said Bridget Cambria, executive director and cofounder of Aldea.

“Now this funding will help not only our organization and our clients and the people that are our neighbors,” she said, “but it’s going to help expand the citizenship services that are desperately needed.”

Other speakers included county Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt and U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who shared the story of her Polish-immigrant father and grandmother.

Her grandmother spoke Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and German but could not speak English, Houlahan said.

“She ended up being able to come to this country and learn many of the skills that you all are talking about right now,” she said, “including becoming a proud citizen of the country.”

In addition to helping those seeking citizenship to meet the requirements for proficiency in the English language, U.S. history and civics, the council provides programs that help adults of all backgrounds read and write proficiently, prepare for work, achieve success on the job and become productive citizens.