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Volunteer Responsibly After a Natural Disaster

After a disaster, like Hurricane Florence, many people want to volunteer their time to help those affected. Keep in mind, it's important to contact and affiliate with a recognized organization, like the American Red Cross or AmeriCorps, before going to the disaster area. This will help you get trained and find opportunities to respond in the most effective way possible.   More than $9 Million will Expand Citizenship Preparation Services in 19 States WASHINGTON— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today awarded $9.425 million in grants to 40 organizations across 19 states to help prepare lawful permanent residents (LPRs) for naturalization. The fiscal year (FY) 2018 grants, which run through 2020, aim to promote prospective citizens’ assimilation into American civic life by funding educational programs designed to increase their knowledge of English, U.S. history, and civics. USCIS awarded the grants through two competitive funding opportunities. The first funding opportunity supports organizations that provide citizenship instruction and naturalization application assistance to LPRs. The second funding opportunity supports organizations that provide extended assimilation services to LPRs who have entered the U.S. as refugees or asylees. Organizations that receive grants under either of these funding opportunities can only use grant funds to provide services to immigrants who have been lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence. In making final award decisions, USCIS took into account various program and organizational factors, including past grantee performance and whether an applicant and any sub-awardees are enrolled in E-Verify. The Citizenship and Assimilation Grant Program has awarded more than $82 million through 393 competitive grants to immigrant-serving organizations in 38 states and the District of Columbia since it began in 2009. Now in its 10th year, the program has helped more than 200,000 LPRs prepare for citizenship. USCIS anticipates that approximately 25,000 LPRs will receive citizenship preparation services by Sept. 30, 2020, as a result of the FY 2018 awards. An additional 12,500 LPRs continue to receive services under the ongoing FY 2017 program, which continues through Sept. 30, 2019. The Citizenship and Assimilation Grant Program is a major part of the agency’s efforts to support effective citizenship preparation services and to provide information on naturalization to immigrants and nonprofit organizations. USCIS also maintains the Citizenship Resource Center, an online hub that provides educational materials and resources to help LPRs prepare for the naturalization process. USCIS also partners with federal, state and local agencies to raise awareness of the rights, responsibilities, and importance of U.S. citizenship among the estimated 8.9 million LPRs nationwide who are eligible to apply for naturalization. For additional information on the Citizenship and Assimilation Grant Program, please visit www.uscis.gov/grants. For more information about the naturalization process and filing online, visit our website at uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), Instagram (/uscis), YouTube (/uscis), and Facebook(/uscis).   FTC Celebrates 100th Anniversary of its Regional Offices The Federal Trade Commission is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of its first regional offices, and the important role they play in protecting consumers and promoting competition through law enforcement, partnerships, and outreach to community and industry groups. In June 1918, the FTC opened its first three regional offices in the Northeast Region(New York), Midwest Region (Chicago), and Western Region (San Francisco). Since that time, the FTC has opened additional regional offices in the Northwest Region (Seattle in 1925), East Central Region (Cleveland in 1954), Southeast Region (Atlanta in 1957), and Southwest Region (Dallas in 1972), as well as a second Western Region office (Los Angeles in 1961). To celebrate this important milestone, the FTC is launching a revamped webpage for each regional office to provide information about cases involving the regional offices and upcoming regional events. “The FTC’s regional offices play a key role in advancing our mission to protect consumers and promote competition,” FTC Chairman Joe Simons said. “These offices bring groundbreaking cases and obtain significant relief for consumers. Beyond their many contributions to the FTC’s law enforcement work, they also engage in critical on-the-ground outreach and education in the communities they serve.” Staff in the Commission’s regional offices work with the Bureaus of Consumer Protection and Competition to conduct investigations and litigation, provide advice to state and local officials on the competitive implications of proposed actions, recommend cases, provide local outreach services to consumers and industry, and coordinate activities with local, state, regional, and cross-border law enforcement authorities. The regional offices host events such as Common Ground conferences that bring together state and federal consumer protection officials, legal services attorneys, and other consumer advocates to discuss emerging trends and challenges facing consumers, and routinely meet with small businesses and other industry groups. In addition, the regional offices have taken the lead on several major consumer protection law enforcement and education initiatives, including the Midwest Region and Southeast Region’s Operation Tech Trap targeting tech support scams, the East Central Region and Western Region’s Operation Main Street targeting scams against small businesses, and most recently, the Northwest Region’s Donate with Honor, a nationwide crackdown on fraudulent charities that conned consumers by falsely promising their donations would help veterans and servicemembers. Other noteworthy cases include the Southeast Region’s case with the State of Florida against Helping America, an alleged phony debt relief operation that agreed to turn over approximately $35 million to return to consumers, the Southwest Region’s case challenging an allegedly deceptive money-making scheme involving cryptocurrencies, and the Western Region-Los Angeles’s $100 million settlement against DeVry University. As part of the settlement, the FTC provided refunds to tens of thousands of students allegedly deceived by DeVry about their likelihood of finding jobs in their field of study and the income level they could achieve upon graduation. In addition to their work protecting consumers, the regional offices in New York, San Francisco, and Seattle are also integral to the FTC’s competition mission. For example, the Northeast Region successfully litigated the FTC’s challenge to the proposed $2.5 billion merger between Penn State Hershey Medical Center and PinnacleHealth System. The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about consumer topics and file a consumer complaint online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources. FTC Staff Report Examines Ways to Improve Occupational License Portability Across State Lines Report is part of the FTC’s ongoing Economic Liberty Task Force initiative to reduce or eliminate unnecessary occupational licensing requirements The Federal Trade Commission today released a staff report examining ways to reduce the burden on licensed workers moving to new states or wishing to market services across state lines. The Report, entitled, Options to Enhance Occupational License Portability, is part of the FTC’s Economic Liberty Task Force initiative. This initiative, begun last year, aims to reduce hurdles to job growth and labor mobility by encouraging states to reduce unnecessary and overbroad occupational licensing regulation. Occupational licensing, when not necessary to further legitimate public health and safety concerns, can impose real and lasting costs on both American workers and American consumers. These burdens often fall disproportionately on lower income Americans trying to break into the workforce and on military families who must move frequently. In recent decades, the number of occupations subject to state licensing requirements has increased dramatically, increasing the burdens on workers.  The Report released today builds on a roundtable held by the Task Force last year that examined ways to mitigate the negative effects of state-based occupational licensing requirements. The Report looks at interstate compacts and model laws that states can use to improve the portability of occupational licenses. It examines procedures that might be adopted to facilitate multistate practice by those who already hold a valid license in one state. It also considers specific initiatives to reduce the burden of state relicensing on military spouses. Commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen has long championed reform in this area. She stated, “Most occupations are licensed state-by-state, meaning that a valid license in one state often will not easily transfer to a new state. This can create real hardships for those who cannot easily bear the costs of being relicensed, and can also reduce public access to trained professionals in rural areas who might otherwise be served by telehealth services or multistate practitioners. Today’s FTC staff report provides important, useful guidance to help state policymakers find ways of reducing these burdens.” The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about consumer topics and file a consumer complaint online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources. Related Actions Options to Enhance Occupational License Portability Related Resources Economic Liberty More news from the FTC >>