Ashrei Foundation

In 2024, the Ashrei Foundation supported the Missouri State ID Access Coalition as a co-facilitator of the program in partnership with St. Francis Xavier College Church. We supported the ID Access Subgrant Funding Cycle, supporting 13 groups across the state of Missouri who wanted to assist individuals with getting their government-issued photo IDs and birth certificates. In 2023, Ashrei wrote a grant for Impact Through Access: Eliminating barriers to identification for a healthier Missouri and were awarded $588,488 by the Missouri Foundation for Health, which allowed us to expand the Coalitions work in 2024. We hired a Coalition Direction who is an Ashrei employee and hosted the first Missouri State ID Access Summit in October, which we believe to be the first of its kind in the country.

In 2022, we launched a pilot program to expand access to photo identification, which has now become an established program called the North City Photo ID Project. In 2024, this program trained 45 volunteers and served 1,523 individuals. We covered the costs of 1,015 Missouri birth certificates, 253 out of state birth certificates, and supported (through financial and/or logistical assistance) applications for 1,170 Missouri non-driver photo IDs. This program offered 3 volunteer training events and weekly ID access clinic days open to the public. The North City Photo ID Project operates out of our office space in a community center operated by the Tabernacle Community Development Corporation called the The Tabernacle Hub, located in North St. Louis City.