WASHINGTON — As part of a sweeping effort to breathe new life into the GOP, the Republican National Committee urged party members Monday to embrace immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship.

Reacting to an unflinching post-mortem of the Republicans' weakness in the 2012 election, GOP Chairman Reince Priebus announced a $10 million outreach to minority voters and plans to attract more women, gays and lesbians to the party.

The internal report on 2012, released Monday, said too many voters feel the party is out of touch with the nation's problems and that without changes, “it will be increasingly difficult for Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future.”

As part of the report, the party conducted focus groups with voters who have recently left the party. These voters saw the party as “scary,” “narrow-minded” and made up of “stuffy old men,” the report said.

“Our message was weak. Our ground game was insufficient. We weren't inclusive,” Priebus said.

Some Republican leaders, eyeing exit polling from the November election, called late last year for a compromise on immigration reform.

The GOP report went further, calling for a path to citizenship.

But deep divisions remain within the party over that path, which has long been derided as “amnesty” by many Republicans.

“The politics on immigration have evolved so quickly since Election Day in the GOP that it makes your head spin,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.

Gutierrez welcomed the new position by GOP leaders to seek real reform.

But Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots' national coordinator, said Republicans “failed to promote our principles and lost because of it.”

She criticized the report recommendations, saying “our movement is not about dividing people or pandering to groups, but bringing everyone together.”

The hardened Republican positions on immigration defined the GOP presidential primary, pushing eventual nominee Mitt Romney far to the right of independent voters.

It also alienated Latinos, the largest-growing voting bloc, according to exit polls.

President Barack Obama won 71 percent of the Latino vote. The GOP also lost seats in the House.

Priebus said the report “highlights the real urgency of connecting with minority communities.”

A bipartisan Senate plan on immigration reform is expected to have a path to citizenship, while House Republicans working on a similar bill are considering permanent status for undocumented workers and residents without citizenship.

Priebus said he approved the $10 million budget for minority outreach this year — with staff to be in place by the end of the summer.

“We've never put this many paid boots on the ground this early in an off year,” Priebus said.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee said the party would not comment on the Priebus speech or the GOP internal report.

Other recommendations in the report include citizenship teams to introduce new citizens to the GOP after naturalization ceremonies and a recruitment program for minority candidates.

Priebus said the party already has great Hispanic leaders such as Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Houston.

“I think we've just done a real lousy job sometimes of bragging about the success that we've had,” Priebus said.

He said a new national field program would engage minority groups at the local level.

He said that by May 1, national political directors would be hired to contact Hispanic, Asian Pacific and African American voters.

In addition to minority outreach, the report found that the party needed to be more inclusive and welcoming to gays and lesbians.

“I think it's about dignity and respect,” Priebus said. “Nobody deserves to have their dignity diminished, or people don't deserve to be disrespected.”

The report also addresses the party's need to reach out to women, particularly single women.

Although the report recommendations do not mention the GOP platform against abortion, Priebus said Republicans can be true to their principles without being disrespectful.

“Finding common ground with voters will be our top priority,” he said.

The party would work to recruit more women candidates, he said.

In addition, Priebus said the party would work with college Republicans to market and expand its political footprints on campus, with an especially strong focus on historically black universities.

And Priebus said the party would open dialogue with advocacy groups such as the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Urban League, the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza.

The report cited the fact that the GOP has lost the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections.

States that were once favorable to Republicans — New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire, Virginia and Florida — are increasingly voting Democrat.

“We are losing in too many places,” the report said.

And although Republicans hold 30 governorships, with a record of reform, at the federal level, much of what the GOP is doing “is not working beyond the core constituencies that make up the party.”

“It is time to smartly change course, modernize the party and learn once again how to appeal to more people, including those who share some but not all of our conservative principles,” the report said.