SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – They may look like standard black filing cabinets in a Kearny Mesa office building.
Instead, the unassuming cabinets are the brainchild of collaboration between non-profits Think Dignity and the regional task force on homelessness.
The program is called the ID Bank with a goal of helping the unhoused get their documents from a to z and storing them for free.
“If someone needs a passport or they want one or any other form of ID - a Social Security card, a driver’s license, a birth certificate from anywhere in the United States, we’d be able to get that for them free of charge,” Kaetlyn Loeffler Malatesta, Program Coordinate for Think Dignity, said
People can then choose having their documents returned to them or storing the documents with the ID Bank - either in the cabinets or a secure digital program.
“It’s been a long time coming,” John Brady, Executive Director of Lived Experience Advisors, said.
Brady was formerly homeless and has been advocating for the homeless in San Diego County.
“Because of the constant shuffle is the simple fact that documents - especially important documents that are difficult to replicate - are constantly being lost and we’re having to reproduce them,” Brady said.
It’s a sense of security that would’ve meant the world to him and will for others in his old shoes.
“Think about you packing up your house and putting it into a moving van every day, and then at the end of the day you can’t unpack everything, but you got to find that one thing. And it’s possible during the day that maybe somebody broke into the van.” Brady said. “Next thing you know you’ve lost important documents, prescriptions and, you know, identification that you need to recover from homelessness.
Think Dignity said the ID Bank will be reaching out to more people to help through outreach locations over the next few weeks across the County.
It’ll be starting with downtown San Diego, Kearny Mesa, and National City.
For more information about the ID Bank or to schedule an appointment, please email idbank.thinkdignity@gmail.com.
