Birmingham groups partner for concert to fund free IDs for homeless
Organizers said identification can help unhoused residents access shelters, jobs, housing, rehabilitation and other services often blocked by paperwork barriers.
Food Not Bombs BHM, Birmingham 50501 and Alabama SRA are coordinating a local concert where ticket sales will fund ID cards for unhoused people within Birmingham city limits. The money will go to the local nonprofit One Roof to help people obtain ID cards. One Roof will also track how many of those houseless people use the ID cards to get into shelters.
The concert will be held at Cahaba Brewing from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, October 23. The featured bands include Blood Moon Riot, Official Bard of Baldwin County, Oh. Pake, Mara Nagra and Tengen.
To get a job in Alabama, workers must pass an E-Verify check, which requires an ID card. Most shelters in Birmingham also require this check. This also extends to HUD housing, apartments, rehabilitation facilities and even a mortgage loan. All the requirements to get basic identification represent roadblocks to getting life back on track after hardship, the groups said in a statement announcing the concert.
Food Not Bombs leadership said they see this as an opportunity for people in Birmingham to unite around a specific issue that harms the community, and a chance to enable Birmingham’s poorest to get off the streets and into a more stable situation that includes jobs and shelter. It could even help them check into rehabilitation and begin a fight against addiction.
Food Not Bombs, the lead organizer for Papers Please, firmly believes that anti-poverty work and community building are the best ways to reduce violence and hate, and society’s capacity for war.
“There’s nothing you can do that disrupts the status quo better than being kind to others and helping your neighbor,” Food Not Bombs said in its statement. “We value kindness as a revolutionary tool that builds trust and brings communities together. We view mutual aid, protest and nonviolent direct action as tools to fighting a culture of poverty, violence and war.”
Birmingham 50501 is dedicated to equality, justice and freedom for all. The group strives to create a society where every voice is heard and every individual is treated with respect and dignity. Through peaceful protests, advocacy and community engagement, the group aims to bring about positive change and challenge systemic injustices.
The Alabama SRA is a chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association operating within Alabama. The Socialist Rifle Association is a federally registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organization incorporated in Wichita, Kansas, and dedicated to education and advocacy for self-defense, community defense, first aid and disaster relief.
