Building Community
An inclusive narrative for the NYC ID
Last week, the NYC municipal ID program was approved by the city council and Mayor Bill De Blasio is expected to sign the program into law later this year. The municipal ID program has the potential to increase access to key services for undocumented and homeless residents, making it less likely that any New Yorker might slip through the cracks of the social system. To achieve that goal however, the IDs need to be widely adopted. To that end, the NYCID program already has a messaging problem. By focusing the popular narrative on undocumented or homeless residents, the broader audience who could shield those groups from being targeted, are not being encouraged to sign up. To wit, an effective narrative has the potential to take the program from a small initiative focused on outlying groups to a program whose mass adoption ensures that the most vulnerable residents are insulated from being unfairly singled out.
Cities are increasingly developing their own solutions to empower and engage citizens. Even the recent rollout of the .nyc top level domains suggests that the identity of cities is going to increasingly become more important. New York City has previously been at the forefront of city reinvention and identity and, with the right messaging, the new program can reinforce the same sense of pride about living in New York that Milton Glaser’s iconic “I love NY” campaign showcased. At it’s core, the NYC ID is an opportunity to pioneer a groundbreaking approach to cities, inclusion and what it means to be a resident of NYC.
Success for the NYC ID will be measured in how the city as a whole benefits. Case studies from smaller American cities to Estonia show that linking secure identity cards to prescriptions, small business support and even debit cards can increase adoption and stickiness for citizens. These case studies also provide guidance for avoiding the issues other regions have faced, like possible targeting by immigration officials and unofficial-looking designs.
As the program moves forward, the focus and public narrative should be focused on improving the quality of public services for all citizens, closely tied to the New Yorker identity. Leveraging the NYC ID to build pride in place and distinguish the city as a leader in caring for our residents, makes prosperity and equity more achievable for us all.
Photo by ntr23.
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