New Haven Independent

The group gathered for a press conference outside City Hall less than a day after the Board of Aldermen approved the first-in-the-nation plan. The plan establishes an i.d. card designed for students, seniors, and undocumented workers to use to open bank accounts, obtain library cards, and gain free access to the parks like the municipal golf course.

The DeStefano administration’s key staffer on the project, Community Services Director Kica Matos (pictured), reported that the cards should be available by July 1.

The approval Monday night catapulted New Haven to the forefront of communities taking a welcoming stand toward immigrants, at a time when many other communities are seeking to boot undocumented newcomers. The i.d. plan follows New Haven’s decision to order its cops not to inquire into immigrants’ legal status. Both efforts are aimed in part at stemming a rash of violent, sometimes deadly, attacks on immigrants who fear approaching the police and who carry around lots of cash because they lack bank accounts. Out-of-town anti-immigrant groups have attacked City Hall for, in their view, encouraging people who don’t belong here.

Tuesday’s press conference drew a bevy of TV reporters, including a crew from the Spanish-language network Telemundo. Bishop Peter Rosazza (pictured) used the opportunity to call on the country to follow New Haven’s welcoming example. He spoke of how Mayor John DeStefano and Kica Matos have “taken leadership that I hope will… permeate leaders throughout the country” to “welcome” newcomers to their communities rather than “pitting one group against another.”

“I’m very proud of the city where I was born,” Rosazza declared.

“This gives everyone in our New Haven community an identity,” echoed Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield. “We welcome everyone here. We want everyone to have an identity. We want everyone to participate.”

Mayor DeStefano called Monday night’s decision “a vote that reflected our values … of hard work, of accpetance, of how can get tough things done when we work together.”

He credited two community groups — Junta for Progressive Action and Unidad Latina en Acción (Latinos United in Action) — for laying the groundwork for the new plan. And he noted that the $250,359 to run the program is being donated by the First City Fund Corporation. That’s the not-for-profit organization set up with millions forced from the old New Haven Savings Bank to allow it to demutualize and become a public company. First City is setting up a not-for-profit community development bank.

Supporting the municipal i.d. program is “an important first step” in the new bank’s mission of creating “financial stability for our neighborhoods and financial literacy for our residents,” said its president, Chandler Howard (pictured with DeStefano), who attended the press conference.