Q&A
Incorporating community financial institutions in digital wallet design
2:29:51
·
3 min
Council Member Gutiérrez and Deyanira Del Rio discuss the potential for incorporating community-based financial institutions in the design and rollout of the digital wallet feature of MyCity. Del Rio provides suggestions for improving the portal's design and data protection.
- Importance of meaningful public input in the design process
- Need for consulting mission-aligned experts rather than just for-profit corporations
- Concerns about reliance on user-read disclosures for data usage
- Suggestion to create clear city policies on protecting privacy to the highest standard
- Potential for involving community development credit unions in serving vulnerable populations
- Recommendation for the city to create its own public bank for administering services directly
Jennifer Gutiérrez
2:29:51
And the Yanita, I know you you raised a really good point about existing financial institutions that are community based.
2:29:56
Mhmm.
2:29:58
But in many ways, try to write the wrongs of discriminatory lending practices and redlining.
2:30:05
Do you think that there is a future for for the design and rollout of the digital wallet where it is incorporating any of these, like, core values of community institutions?
2:30:17
Or No.
Deyanira Del Rio
2:30:19
We do.
2:30:20
I mean, I would say that just to start in terms of the the my city design or what that could look like, just a a first step would just be making sure that there are real meaningful opportunities for public input into the design so that we could hear directly.
2:30:37
The city can hear what concerns people would have and hear their reactions and make sure it's very clear what is being envisioned in terms of the collection of data and the sharing of that data.
2:30:47
I think also consulting with experts who are not from the for profit corporations at Stantigain from this project, but consulting with mission aligned experts in technology that are concerned about the growth, the concentration of data, and the lack of control that people have over it at times.
2:31:07
I would also say that, you know, I found a very earning that the commissioner talked about people having to read disclosures to understand how their data would be used when we know that very few people do that, and there's just such a sheer imbalance of power and information.
2:31:22
Do we expect public assistance applicants to read that and make a decision about whether they need to apply for benefits based on, you know, the the disclosures that are in, you know, 4 point font.
2:31:33
I would hope not.
2:31:34
I think we need to I think the city should make a clear commitment to making sure that as a matter of policy.
2:31:41
Any systems, portals that they create the city creates must protect people's privacy to the highest standard.
2:31:48
Otherwise, we're you know, the city is scaring people into, you know, a profit driven system that isn't going to serve the public interest.
2:31:57
And finally, to your point, yes, there are you know, the city right now has entered into another contract with Mokify to issue immediate response cards to migrant asylum seekers through with Mokify and some of the community development credit unions that have long served immigrants undocumented, documented, and other historically red lined communities have said they wish that they had been approached by the city because many of those institutions are already serving these asylum seekers, not just with a prepaid card, but offering an array of one on one support, help sending funds back home, applying for tax identification numbers, and providing full holistic services, not just a card that they can use to swipe and generate funds for the Fintech company.
2:32:42
And then in the long run, the city should create its own public bank through which it can administer a lot of these services directly rather than having to look to for profit partnerships.
