In this community-focused segment, DJ Pup Dawg and Roxbury Liaison Asha sit down with Hannah Avila, the Legal Access Project Manager for the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement, to discuss the 12th annual Citizenship Day. Scheduled for Saturday, May 2, 2026, at the Reggie Lewis State Track and Athletic Center, this massive workshop provides free legal assistance to eligible green card holders navigating the U.S. citizenship application process.
DJ Pup Dawg shares a moving personal story about his own family's resilience during their immigration journey. Whether you're looking to start your own application or want to support the community, this event is a vital resource for aspiring citizens across Boston.
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Episode Transcript
Yeah, straight from Pakistan to La to Boston. Every Thursday
night Roxbury Liaison. My girl Asha, she jumps on air
with me to talk about all the great things happening
in Boston.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
What up Aasha? Are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
What up? D Day? Pomp Dogs? Not much just chilling
you know.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Nice?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Did you get your tickets to Shaggy that benefit show
I'm doing at Big Night Live next Thursday, one week
from today with Shaggy.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Yes, I'm actually booking my ticket today. O. Good, and
I'll make sure you know some of the city staff
is also booking their stuff soon.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
There it is man so Shaggy that's going down one
week from today. What we got going on today? Who
we got with us?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
So today we have Hannah Avila, who is a legal
access project manager from office with Immigrant Investment, to talk
about an event that they're doing in Roxbury at the
Regularist Hannah.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hannah, what's up?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Hello, Nice to reach you ball Thanks for having.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Me, No, of course, thanks for jumping on. What we
got going on?
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I'm here to talk about Citizenship Day. Okay, it's a
big event that we have coming up on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Nice, So what is this that you have to be
a citizen or you're going to help us get citizenship.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
No, Citizenship Day is an awesome event. We so I
work for the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement and we
partner with projects that doesn't check the day when people
that have a Green card and that are eligible to
apply for citizenships can come and get free legal help
with the application process.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Oh that's big right now, especially right now.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Yeah, truly, now is a better time than ever to
become a citizen for anyone who's eligible.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
And you guys do this every year or is this
something you started just because of everything that's been going on.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
No, we do every year. We've done this since twenty fourteen,
so it's a really long standing event and we've actually
helped over two thousand people become citizens just at this
event since twenty fourteen. So we hope to help literally
hundreds of Warren Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So a long time ago, my dad we weren't obviously
we had green cards when we first moved out here,
so you know, for years, my dad was getting all
the paperwork ready and you know, you had to show
all the documents and everything like that. And one time
the van, the van that we had was an older van.
He had all the paperwork, and I think the next
week was our immigrant you know, all the interviews and
all that, and the van went up and smoked. No way,
(01:54):
all my dad's paperwork I remember I was like ten
years old, and my dad's paperwork all went and like
it all, he.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Had to start the whole process again.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Way, it gives me like PTSD just seeing my parents, like, oh,
we're about to get deported.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
This is a wrap for us now.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
But oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
I think it was an organization like this out in
LA that helped out my family and was able to
you know, get them back on their feet.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Yeah, of course, so happy to share about it.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, okay, So that's going down this Saturday, Reggi Lewis Center.
If you've got a Green card and you're at that
place where you're almost at the citizenship, you should go
to this event, right, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
So in order to be eligible, you have to already
have a green card. You have to have had it
for at least five years. Yeah. There's a little exception
if someone's been married to a US citizen and living
with that person, that can apply sooner after three years.
But yeah, the events at the Reggu Lewis Center will
be there all day. But if you don't have an appointment,
which at this point you can't really make one, show
up between nine point thirty and twelve bring your green card.
(02:47):
We will scream you and if we have space, we'll
do our best to get you in for that day.
But Project Citizenship does this work all year long, and
so if someone comes on Citizenship Day and we can't
schedule them for that day, they can get helped by
Project Citizenship later in this month. They could get helped
next month. And so it's not like this is a
one day. If you miss it, you can't come. We
(03:07):
want to help everyone we possibly can on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
That's awesome. So any questions you have too, I'm assuming
you guys will answer a lot of questions, even if
it's not at the five year mark. I mean, anything
with through in regards to citizenships go reach out to
them is going down this Saturday at Reggie Lewis Center.
And if they can't make it to the event, there's
websites and stuff that they can get in contact with.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Yeah, exactly, they can go to our website which is
Boston dot gov slash citizenship. We have information about citizenship
in general. We have all the informations our Citizenship Day,
how you can contact our offices there, how you can
contact Project Citizenship. So that's a good spot to go
for more information.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Perfect. Thank you so much, Hannah for jumping in.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
That's going down this Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center
nine thirty to twelve thirty.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Or is that the only time to come.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
That's the best time if you're walking in, if you
don't have an appointment nine hundred and twelve thirty, But
there's appointments at different times a day. But if you're
just showing up, bring your green card, come between nine
thirty as well.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Perfect. Thank you so much, Hannah. A great job doing this, man,
I know.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Thanks, I know I've never been able to actually thank
somebody for that, so I'm going to thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Thank you, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Of course, we're so happy to help.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
All right, thank you, thank thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
And I know what your office does a lot of
amazing work, So thank you for your advuracy.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Appreciate that. Asha, thanks to jup.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
No problem, thank you, Asha. What else we got going on?
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So love your block? Is this weekend as well. We
had we have Lovely Block last weekend, next last Saturday,
and then this Saturday. It's going to be different neighborhoods
like Roxbury madapin South End. So we're not looking for volunteers,
but if you see people cleaning up and planted flowers
and you know, doing all the good work, just thank
them for their services.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
There it is Man all right, well as she jumps
on every Thursday newsletters. If you want to get in
contact with them one more time, give them all your information.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Go to Boston dot gov for slash events. All the
liaisons office hours are on there. Any abutters meeting, any
development meetings, any city events, it's on the Boston dot
gov slash event website. And then if you are looking
to schedule one on one with your liaisons, feel free
to oh so you know, email us and you'll find
our information on Boston dot gov formar Slash events as well.
(05:05):
Some neighborhoods are not hosting office hour this Friday, just
because we're picking up the tools for love your Block
on Saturday. There are other liaisons and you'll see their
office hours there.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Perfect There it is Man, And next Thursday I'll see
you at our benefit show with Shaggy raising money for
Hurricane Melissa victims out in Jamaica. Okay, next Thursday, one
week from today, we'll be there.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
There it is. That's Asha.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
She jumps on there with me every week to talk
about all the great things that are happening in Boston.
Go check out their website Boston dot gov and shout
Sahanna from jumping on helping out getting your citizenship.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Go check that out over there too, right.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And make sure go get those tickets to that benefit
show one week from today. A pair of tickets with
the Ticketmaster fees is less than one hundred bucks to
see Shaggy Grammy winning artists as Shaggy, mister Love of Love,
mister it wasn't me. That's going down one week from
today at Big Night Live right there at the TV Garden,
all for a great cause.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Keeping it going right now, some ti, let's go
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