Personal identification documents such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses, state IDs, and Social Security cards are required to access most essential services in the United States. Without an ID, an individual can’t sign a lease, verify employment eligibility, access medical care, or open a bank account. For individuals who are homeless or unstably housed, it can be difficult to obtain and retain identification documents due to cost barriers and the lack of a secure place to store them.
Founded in 2021, Identity Access Project (IAP) is a Baltimore-based nonprofit that addresses this need by helping homeless and unstably housed individuals obtain copies of their vital documents. IAP has developed a streamlined process to obtain identification documents for clients—even from other states—and offers secure, cloud-based storage of the documents to reduce the need for replacement if they are lost or stolen. IAP is one of just six organizations in the nation that focuses solely on providing individuals with vital documents.
A client of Identity Access Project.
In 2023, with funding from the Abell Foundation, IAP partnered with the Franciscan Center, a drop-in center located in central Baltimore that offers food, job training, and case management services to individuals struggling with housing and financial insecurity. IAP staff are on site at the Franciscan Center two days per week, assisting clients of the Franciscan Center and other agencies to obtain needed documents. In the first year of the partnership, IAP supported more than 700 individuals in securing the documents they need to rebuild their lives.
In addition to the direct benefit to the Franciscan Center’s clients, the partnership with IAP has enabled the Franciscan Center’s staff to spend more of their time assisting clients in their search for housing, employment and other needs—time that they previously spent tracking down vital documents for their clients.
“We work in parallel with IAP to expand our services and our impact —to better serve our neighbors.”
– Jeff Griffin, Executive Director, Franciscan Center
Photos courtesy of Identity Access Project.