Overcoming Life Struggles to Become a US Citizen

Ms. Zheng, a 61 year-old senior, first immigrated to the United States in 2011. As a new immigrant lost in a foreign country, she and her family suffered from poor living conditions as well as difficulty overcoming language barriers. This prevented her from seeking eligible benefit resources. Extremely unhappy with her situation, Ms. Zheng came to CPC Brooklyn Community Services with hopes of finding options for a better life.

CPC Brooklyn Community Services staff encouraged her to join our Senior Services activities such as art and painting classes to relieve some of her stress. These recreational classes made a world of difference in her outlook on life because she had something to look forward to and a community of support around her. While she was attending Senior Services activities, Ms. Zheng was also receiving supportive counseling from CPC’s Geriatric Mental Health Initiative (GMHI) program and enrolled in our ESL class to improve her English.

As time went on, she became more and more active in our activities and diligently studied English every day. In 2015, Ms. Zheng submitted her Naturalization application and enrolled in CPC Brooklyn Community Services Naturalization Prep Class. She made painstaking efforts to attend every class under the tutelage of our volunteer instructors Mr. Roy Jung and Mrs. Peggy Eng Jung. They worked hard together to practice questions and polish her interview skills.

As of November 1, 2016, Ms. Zheng proudly passed her Citizenship Test using the English she worked so hard to learn. She no longer feels daunted by the language barrier and has said that she was lucky to find such good instructors and staff in CPC Brooklyn Community Services. She has expressed confidence in her peers and is certain that her fellow seniors will be able to pass the test as well. She is extremely proud of her achievement and cannot wait to share her feelings and experiences with her classmates and the other seniors. Her pride and confidence in herself is why our staff is so dedicated to serving the community.

Congratulations Ms. Zheng!

For more information on CPC Brooklyn Community Services Naturalization Prep Class call CPC Brooklyn Community Services at 718-492-0409.