In Napa Valley, Maria Pantoja found a home and a pathway to a new beginning. A resident of Napa with her husband and five boys, Maria’s journey to U.S. citizenship, facilitated by NVCF’s One Napa Valley initiative — a program dedicated to helping residents navigate the path to U.S. citizenship — is a testament to both her resilience and the vital network of nonprofit organizations doing this work.
Born in Mexico and brought to San Jose, Calif. at the age of eight, Maria’s life has been a blend of challenges and triumphs. “I was a single mom at a very young age and had to work to raise my boys,” Maria shares, reflecting on her early years balancing life’s responsibilities without the opportunity to pursue higher education. Her career path took her from working at Hewlett Packard to handling accounts payable for a company in Salinas and later to a role in Escrow at First American Title Company in St. Helena.
However, after being laid off in November 2022, Maria decided to take a new approach to life: giving back and working on bigger projects she’d been putting off. “I decided to do something different,” Maria shares. “One of my goals was to be able to donate my time to the community, so I started helping out at the food bank and my church, and I got involved with my son’s school.”
Encouraged by her community involvement, Maria also embarked on a personal mission: to become a U.S. citizen. “I learned about [the initiative] because I wanted to get my citizenship. The downtime I had [from work] was the perfect opportunity for me to complete this,” Maria explains.
Despite her familiarity with paperwork, the citizenship application process felt overwhelming due to its complexity and the high stakes of ensuring every detail was perfect. “I had been so busy, I just never had the time to gather all the paperwork. Even though I knew English, and I did paperwork all day, every day.”
Many people who worry about the process put off applying, or don’t know where to turn for help. But Maria did. With help from the One Napa Valley Initiative grantees, Maria navigated the application process and in less than a year, she became a U.S. citizen.
“My whole life has been here, I’ve been working, and paying taxes, my sons have grown up here,” Maria shares. “I pursued citizenship because I have given so much to this country, and I felt that my vote was going to impact not just me personally, but my community, my children. Voting was one of the first things I did after I became a citizen, and I was so proud.”
Maria’s success ignited a passion for giving back. Now, she volunteers to help others navigate the journey she once undertook. “Once I learned what needed to be done, I thought I would do very well sharing my knowledge — I’m bilingual, I know the process, I want to help people.”
Reflecting on the impact of the One Napa Valley initiative, which has helped more than 2,388 Valley residents and workers gain citizenship, Maria is passionate about the program. Without it, she fears many would be lost navigating the complex and costly path to citizenship. “The fact that there are low- or no-cost attorneys really helped me because it is expensive,” she explains. “If you make a simple mistake, your application can be denied, and it costs you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. When people are trying to survive, where are they going to get that?”
Looking ahead, Maria is not only planning to continue her volunteer work, she’s also pursuing a career in real estate, aiming to help families establish their own homes in Napa Valley. Her parting advice to those eligible for citizenship is compelling: “Just do it. Take advantage of the help One Napa Valley offers. It’s not just a benefit to you, it uplifts the entire community — it’s a win-win all around.”
