Little Rock officials will soon seek feedback from banks and businesses on a proposed municipal identification program with the hope of beginning to issue identification cards by January, City Manager Bruce Moore said Wednesday.
Moore met Wednesday with the Working Together in the Community group, started by at-large City Director Joan Adcock last year to help foster relations with the city's Hispanic community and meet some of their needs.
"The Hispanic community is in need of this kind of identification and [the fact that] the city is going to give this, it means a lot," said Juan Posadas with City Connections, a faith-based community service organization. "Not only for bank issues, for security also. The impact of this program will be huge for the Latino community and we are thankful. ... The Latino community is here. We are part of the economy, and we have to look for ways to integrate better into the city."
The idea for a city ID program came out of the volunteer group focused on the needs of Hispanics, but such a service would help other types of residents in Little Rock, too, Mayor Mark Stodola said.
The homeless population is in great need of valid identification to access shelters and other services, he said, adding that it can sometimes be financially burdensome to get a state-issued ID or a driver's license because both cost money. A person must have a copy of his birth certificate to obtain either, and that also costs money if the original is lost.
"This will help residents access local services and help incorporate them in the community and help provide that sense of belonging," said Emily Cox, the city's interlocal government relations manager.
Moore and his staff took requests from the Working Together in the Community group and came up with a draft proposal of a program that they will soon begin pitching to banks and businesses to get feedback.
The proposal is to provide official city IDs to people age 15 and up. The goal is for the IDs to help people obtain banking services, identify themselves during medical situations, help with obtaining a job, access nonprofit organizations and deal with law enforcement, and also when accessing local services such as the library.
The ID is not to replace state or federal identification and cannot be used to verify age when purchasing alcohol, Cox said.
The card would benefit "immigrants, homeless residents, the formerly incarcerated, youth with unstable home environments, people with disabilities, seniors and transgender people," a city write-up said.
Each ID would contain a person's name, address, date of birth, eye color, height, picture and signature.
Any city resident would be able to get an ID, regardless of their legal status in the country. The requirements to get an ID would be less stringent than those of state organizations. The city is proposing a list of primary documents, secondary documents and tertiary documents, like employer identification, jail discharge papers, marriage certificates or electronic benefit transfer cards.
It is proposed that to get a city ID, someone must present one primary document or two secondary documents or three valid tertiary documents. They also must establish proof of residency through two documents.
"This is one of the most exciting things I think we are going to do this year," Moore said.
Rodolfo Arnnas, the new director of the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock, offered to share the consulate's card machine that puts extra layers of protection and logos on ID cards to make them difficult to duplicate.
"We need to work together here and this is the only way we can obtain the cause we want to obtain," Arnnas said.
Arvest Bank has already signaled its support of a city ID program. Deysi Santos, a Little Rock branch sales manager, said Wednesday that the bank is excited to help more people obtain bank accounts and reach out to explain to the community how having a bank account can benefit them.
The city also plans to partner with Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency to allow people obtaining a city ID to sign up to be an organ donor at the same time.
Hispanics are "first in need and last in donation" when it comes to organ donation, said Miguel Lopez, a communications specialist with the organ recovery agency.
"We want to donate, but many Hispanics can't register because they don't have the proper documentation. This city ID will potentially help them save lives," he said.
Lopez remembers not being able to check out a book at the library when he was growing up because neither he nor his family had any valid identification at the time, he said.
"This is really going to make a great difference in lots of peoples' lives," Adcock said.
One man in the audience at the meeting Wednesday asked Moore if the city was prepared for any push-back from the community about offering city IDs.
"We have looked at these programs nationally, and there's been some push back. I think it's going to take all of us, once we come to a consensus on what we are asking for, [to communicate] how it can be utilized," Moore said.
"I think it's very important to work with the bank and business community because we want this to be something that -- when we go down this path -- can be utilized. We don't want, 'Oh, I got a municipal ID, but it doesn't do any good.' I think there will be a certain segment of the population that doesn't understand what we're doing and I think it's incumbent upon all of us to educate them on why we are doing this."
Metro on 07/14/2016