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Mayor Mike Duggan presented city councilwoman Raquel Castaneda-Lopez with the first official municipal ID card during the city's launch of the program at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on Wednesday, December 7, 2016. The municipal ID program will look to provide city residents with access to city services, job opportunities, banking options and more, regardless of immigration or housing status, criminal record or gender identification. (Logan T. Hansen | MLive.com)

A representation of the identification cards the municipal ID program will give out.

DETROIT -- The city launched its new municipal identification card program Wednesday, meaning various groups of people in the city who struggle to obtain ID will now have access to basic city services, savings and checking accounts and cultural institutions, among other things.

Officials gathered at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to officially usher in the program, which will make municipal Detroit IDs available to all city residents aged 14 or older, regardless of immigration or housing status, criminal record or gender identification.

"We're trying to build a city where everybody is included, where everybody is valued and everybody can access the basic services of this city in a way that doesn't cause them stress," Mayor Mike Duggan told those gathered at the museum Wednesday.

He said there are groups of individuals living in Detroit for whom everyday interactions are challenging without access to ID, listing those groups as citizens returning from prison, immigrants who live in the U.S. illegally, homeless people and young people who put off getting their driver's licenses.

He said the municipal IDs will give residents access to city services, job opportunities and the ability to open a bank account or enroll their children in school, but he pointed out that the IDs do not serve as voter ID cards nor as driver's licenses.

"It doesn't make you eligible for things you weren't eligible for, but what it does do is say very clearly what we are: We're Detroiters, and we say it emphatically and in a way that's going to be accepted."

Detroit City Council member Raquel Castaneda-Lopez, who played an instrumental part in bringing the municipal ID program to fruition was presented with the first ID given out in the program.

Earlier in the year, Castaneda-Lopez led the effort to pass the ordinance that created the municipal ID program.

"I'm looking forward to the thousands of residents in the city that are going to benefit from this program," Castaneda-Lopez said. "This is really about government removing barriers so that we make sure we are truly serving the most marginalized community of people in the city of Detroit."

Officials said municipal ID holders will facilitate better interaction with police, the Health Department and the Detroit Land Bank Authority and private entities like DTE Energy, One Detroit Credit Union and the Detroit Medical Center.

And more than 100 local businesses and cultural institutions are offering discounts and other perks to cardholders. Some of these include AMC Theaters, Buddy's Pizza and the YMCA.

Detroit resident Alexandria Gibson said she has faced barriers trying to obtain state identification because she doesn't have all the necessary documents, and expressed her excitement after Wednesday's official launch.

"For me, an ID would provide a way of opening up a bank account and managing my money easier," said Gibson, 21. "It also would be easier for me to apply for housing with an official ID because my current identification isn't really valid and I don't have enough documents to scramble to get a state ID."

The municipal IDs will cost $25 for adults aged 18 or older and $10 for youth between the ages of 14 and 17 and for seniors 62 and up.

Those looking to obtain an ID through the program will need to schedule an appointment online or by calling 1-800-408-1599, and then gather appropriate documentation before visiting one of two intake centers at either Patton Park Recreational Center, 2301 Woodmere Street, or the Samaritan Center, 5555 Conner Street.

The program will also look to host four pop-up locations throughout the city in the first part of 2017. Those locations will be announced in January.