Photos by Colleen O’Connell Smyth of C. Smyth Photography

Background

The St. Francis Xavier College Church ID and Birth Certificate Outreach Program was founded in 1993 to meet a community need for vital government documents in order to access to jobs, housing, health care, and now even voting in Missouri. Many people experience barriers to identification like covering the cost, identifying and locating the necessary underlying documents, understanding the often complicated process, and getting to the appropriate offices. Our program volunteers and staff meet with community members each Tuesday morning to overcome these barriers and provide payment for the needed documents. In 2024, our program supported 3,505 individuals with their documents, including 2,696 birth certificates and 2,295 Missouri State IDs.

Over the years we have also recognized patterns in the experiences of our program guests, which have led us to greater awareness of the systemic barriers to identification faced by Missourians. This recognition led to the founding of the Missouri State ID Access Coalition by College Church in 2019. The MO State ID Access Coalition is a statewide coalition committed to eliminating structural barriers to identification. Since forming the Coalition, we partner with groups across St. Louis and the entire state to train new organizations on how to offer ID and birth certificate programming, advocate for more equitable identification policies in Missouri, and build awareness about this important and often overlooked barrier. We ultimately envision a Missouri where everyone has access to the vital documents they need to thrive!

Practicum Student Information

The ID and Birth Certificate Program seeks a social work practicum student to join our team in Fall 2025 and/or Spring 2026 for a foundation and/or concentration practicum. It is important to note that while we are housed in a Catholic Church, the program is open to all and the practicum student does not need to be Catholic. This is a paid, in person opportunity with a $20 per hour compensation rate, up to 300 hours per semester, including regular supervision with the Director of Social Ministry, a social worker. The student will be a valued team member with opportunities to share input and help shape our program offerings while learning about identification access and its many impacts. Below are a list of possible areas of focus, which can be adapted to suit the student’s interests and desired skill building. Please note that this is a sampling of possible roles. It is an organizational priority to protect the time and energy of our team members and ensure that the role is both rewarding and manageable for the student.

Practicum Student Roles

• Direct Program Support

  • Build clinical skills while working directly with community members (called “guests”) to support them with obtaining their Missouri State IDs and birth certificates from any state

  • Organize and implement ID and birth certificate clinic opportunities outside of the weekly Tuesday program

• Program Guest Survey Administration

  • Design, implement, and analyze the results of a survey designed to receive feedback from those served by our program

  • Develop additional ways to receive feedback from guests

• Research and Data Management

  • Conduct research on policies and practices impacting guests; develop recommendations for program practices based on research

  • Analyze program data to understand the program’s impact; develop new ways of measuring program impact and learning from the experiences of our guests

• Coalition Building with the Missouri State ID Access Coalition

  • Participate in the work of a growing statewide coalition, with opportunities to partner with direct service and advocacy organizations across the state of Missouri

  • Engage in the work of one or more committees of the coalition, including opportunities for legislative research and advocacy, training and support for direct programming across the state, and/or membership engagement

You may be a good fit if you…

• Are a St. Louis area social work student seeking an in person foundation or concentration practicum

• Are generally available on Tuesday mornings

• Are interested in understanding the issue of identification access on micro, mezzo, and/or macro levels

• Will work compassionately with all people, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, ability status, sexual orientation or any other factor.

• Like to work in teams and in collaboration with others

• Are curious and open to learning

If you are interested in applying for this student position, please send your resume to Christine Dragonette at christine@sfxstl.org. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.