Goodwin House Inc. employees celebrating their U.S. citizenship (Image courtesy of Goodwin House Inc.)
When Rita Siebenaler found out that $725 was all that was standing between immigrant staff members at her life plan community and U.S. citizenship, she decided to do something about it.
A resident of Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads in Falls Church, VA, Siebenaler was shocked to read that the price for applying for U.S. citizenship had doubled to more than $700.
“I knew from past experiences and discussions with employees exactly what an extraordinary amount that was,” she told McKnight’s Senior Living. “We’re all descendants of immigrants one way or another. Most of our ancestors did not face a barrier like this.”
Experiencing first-hand the bond among residents and staff at Goodwin House, Siebenaler thought her fellow residents could do something about it.
“I had a very strong hunch that, within our organization, people would generously donate to cover the cost of citizenship for our employees,” she said. “It proved to be true.”
Citizenship program funded by residents
With the help of the Goodwin House Foundation, the fundraising arm of Goodwin House, residents raised an initial $40,000 in two weeks to support staff members seeking U.S. citizenship, according to Goodwin House Chief Philanthropy Officer Valerie Burke.
Their efforts led to the creation of the U.S. Citizenship Program at Goodwin House, which covers the U.S. citizenship application costs for employees of Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads and Goodwin House Alexandra — both life plan communities in Virginia offering multiple levels of living, including independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing along with a home care program.
The foundation has a staff support fund that covers tuition, emergency financial support and citizenship expenses. Thanks to donations from residents, staff and community members, Burke said, the foundation has been able to cover the application costs for every employee who has applied so far: 90 and counting.
But residents’ contributions to that path to citizenship don’t end there. Goodwin House is home to several older adults with backgrounds in teaching, including English-as-a-second-language educators. Those residents now volunteer as tutors to help staff members study for their citizenship exams. The foundation covers the cost of any books or training to prepare residents to become tutors.
“One of the beautiful things about this is it really connects with residents,” said Goodwin House President and CEO Rob Liebreich. “If an older adult is looking for an organization providing opportunities for purpose, that is what this does. It’s a chance to make others’ lives better, a chance to connect, do tutoring, engage at a deeper level.
“It’s a rare opportunity to have a win for residents, a win for staff, a win for the general community.”
Criteria to apply for the citizenship program is only that an employee work at Goodwin House for six months. Due to the generosity of donors, this year the program expanded to include one immediate family member of employees who have been with the company for at least one year.
Liebreich said he’s heard from several staff members who said the program helped them take the step toward citizenship three to seven years sooner, because all of their money goes toward necessities and helping their families back home.
“It fast forwards the process of people becoming U.S. citizens by years — that is critical to peoples’ lives,” he said. “Out of respect for the people who work within our communities and organization, we wanted to have something like this. It was the right thing to do.”
Citizenship playbook available for download
The program has become an important part of the company’s conversation with job applicants. Liebreich said that Goodwin House has a diverse work population of 960 staff members representing more than 60 counties, including several foreign-born individuals. Across the country, immigrants account for 25.7% of the workforce in the “nonformal” long-term care sector, including senior living, according to research published in the journal Health Affairs.
“When we started this in 2018, it was just the idea to do the right thing for our staff here,” Liebreich said. “Now it’s a bit of a calling card. We are really trying to make sure anyone else can follow in our path and create this program.”
To promote that sharing, the Goodwin House Citizenship Playbook is available for download by anyone on the organization’s website. Valerie and Rob said they have been approached by several senior living organizations, as well as other groups with ties to the industry, interested in learning more about the program and how to implement it.
Goodwin House also previously shared its COVID-19 business playbook to help other businesses and organizations through the pandemic.
