IDignity, Inc.

The primary goal of IDignity is to alleviate the suffering that is caused by the inability of an individual to legally prove their identity. This suffering is a result of the systemic nature of legal identification in that it is an essential component to participate in our society and to also protect it. The necessity to possess legal identification documents and the difficult requirements to obtain them are imperative to safeguarding the integrity of the identity that these documents represent. While the threshold of proof required to obtain identification should not be lessened as that would negatively impact the validity of identification, there does need to be an organization such as IDignity that can assist those in our society that are unable to overcome the barriers on their own. IDignity’s objective is to ensure that all U.S. citizens and legal residents in Central Florida will have access to their legal identification documents. The segment of our society that IDignity was created to assist are those suffering from poverty, homelessness, mental disabilities or physical disabilities as their barriers tend to be the greatest. IDignity expects, through ongoing efforts, to be able to readily assist any member of our community in regaining legal proof of their identity, regardless of how complex the case. Not only will this directly empower our clients to better their own lives, it will also make our community more inclusive, productive and secure. Through extensive collaboration and success at serving over 21,000 unduplicated clients, IDignity has become nationally recognized experts regarding access to legal identification. A secondary objective of IDignity is to leverage this expertise in two ways: to generate earned-income by offering our services to those that have a means to pay, and to share our intellectual property and utilize our reputation to assist other communities in implementing self-sustaining IDignity programs. This replication will not only greatly increase the capacity of IDignity to alleviate suffering, it will further strengthen the IDignity model and reputation.

The strategies that IDignity is utilizing to meet its goals focus on leveraging our experience and upgrading our infrastructure. IDignity created a unique model for addressing the ever changing requirements for providing access to acquiring legal identification documents. The experience provided by engaging in over 22,000 cases has provided a significant amount of intellectual property. A key strategy that IDignity has completed is a comprehensive operations manual that documents how to implement IDignity client service events and how to obtain the various forms of identification. This manual is a living document that adapts to include new challenges and solutions. It is an essential component to being able to operate more effectively and efficiently. It also provides the opportunity to securely share IDignity’s intellectual property with other communities interested in implementing the IDignity model. IDignity continues to strengthen its infrastructure to ensure it maintains long-term viability. A new customer relationship management system increases IDignity’s ability to nurture relationships and strategically improve fundraising. IDignity has migrated all documents and records into an enterprise level cloud storage platform which provides better access and security. We have also hired a cyber security company to protect our online data for an added level of protection.

IDignity has proven its ability to successfully address the issue of access to legal identification in Central Florida. The organization continues to adapt to meet the ever changing government identification requirements and the needs of our clients. The key to IDignity’s capabilities is the focus on collaboration throughout the model. This includes a broad-base of generous funders, passionate volunteers and dedicated government agencies involved in identification. IDignity’s internal resource of staff and volunteers is exceptional. The expertise they have acquired over the past 12 years, has enabled IDignity to be a recognized leader in the field of proving identity. The complexities of reestablishing the proof of an individual’s identity can be extensive, sometimes taking over a year to overcome. Yet, without IDignity’s assistance these individuals would likely remain marginalized “ghosts” in our society for the rest of their lives. IDignity’s external resources continue to grow as new partnerships are developed and existing partnerships become stronger. For example, while IDignity initially requested the assistance of various government agencies to participate in the program, those agencies have come to rely on IDignity to address identification issues that they are not able to address. IDignity’s reputation of compassion with the resolve to solve the most difficult cases has garnered some influence to address catch-22 bureaucracy. The organization will seek to nurture this influence in order to advocate for system change which will lessen the need for charity assistance.

IDignity’s near-term objective of ensuring that individuals in Central Florida will have readily available access to their legal identification documents has been a daunting task, yet one where significant progress has been made. The most recent credible study, by the Brennan Center for Justice, estimates that 11% of adult United States citizens do not currently possess valid government issued photo identification. IDignity’s primary objective is to assist individuals in being eligible for obtaining their identification. This often requires extensive research and legal work to acquire the background documents necessary to reestablish proof of their identity and thus making them eligible. To comply with the REAL ID requirements, these background documents are submitted at the time a new photo ID is issued. Thus, the next time a client needs to replace their lost, stolen or expired photo ID the only barrier will be the expense since their proof of identity has already been established. Consequentially, they are unlikely to again require IDignity’s assistance. One of IDignity’s greatest accomplishments is that through assisting over 22,000 unduplicated clients in regaining proof of their identity we are now often able to meet the demands for our services in Central Florida. For the first five years of operations, IDignity was forced to turn away hundreds of clients each month due to capacity limits. More recently, due to increased capacity and a reduction of individuals in our community that have not already received IDignity’s services, we are now readily able to assist anyone. While the need for IDignity’s services remains in our community, it is amazing progress to have now mitigated the issues of identification to one that is manageable. Additional progress has been made in IDignity’s earned-income pilot project to offer our services in an expedited manner for those that have a means to pay or for those that have an organization to pay on their behalf. Individuals, local businesses and government agencies have proven appreciative of this opportunity. Lastly, IDignity continues to generate success in replication of its model into other communities. IDignity continues to provide oversight and consultation to the existing three affiliate programs in neighboring communities, proving that the model is scalable. While the path to further replication is being adapted, IDignity is undeniably the most credible organization able to assist in addressing the issue of access to legal identification on a larger scale when funding becomes available.