IDNYC cards are expiring. Here’s how to renew yours.
Brooklyn Public Library President Linda Johnson renews her IDNYC card at the Macon Branch of BPL on Jan. 31, 2020. Photo: Paul Frangipane/Brooklyn Eagle
Five years after the program kicked off, IDNYC identification cards are expiring and need to be renewed.
As part of the city’s #RenewYourIDNYC campaign, City Councilmember Robert Cornegy and Brooklyn Public Library President Linda Johnson met at the Macon Branch in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Friday to demonstrate how to renew the cards.
IDNYC cards can be renewed online, but for those without internet access, BPL branches offer computers to bring users through the process. Employees at the library can also help set people up with appointments to get new cards.
Since the program started in January 2014, it has been expanded to include children as young as 10 years old.
“I remember as a young person being told, ‘You should not be outside without ID,’” Cornegy said. “For communities that are underserved, it’s important to be able to be identified.”
Cornegy and Johnson followed a pre-set prompt on two computers at the library to renew their cards in under five minutes.
New versions of the cards will have braille for visually impaired users. Benefits such as free one-year membership to certain cultural institutions, like BAM, Brooklyn’s Children Museum and the Prospect Park Zoo, are also available to cardholders.
Councilmember Robert Cornegy follows a prompt to renew his IDNYC card at the Macon Branch of BPL. Photo: Paul Frangipane/Brooklyn Eagle
“It allows people to come out of the shadows and be able to do everything, from some rudimentary banking, to being identified if stopped by law enforcement,” Cornegy added.
New cards will be good for another five years, and after renewal, should arrive in the mail in two to three weeks, according to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
The city will not ask applicants about their immigration status.
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