#hotDMVsummer

Hey fam! It's been a while! I have moved in to the DMV so that's where you can send all of my mail and pizza.

This week, the Los Angeles chapter celebrated hitting and then surpassing 200 IDs! Since the LA chapter has been struck down by COVID and some other factors, a lot of that has been me and my mom, lol. After getting to know over 200 people, driving them in my car, standing in line with them at the DMV, celebrating with them when their birth certificates came in and commiserating when their birth certificates took so, so long, I am both totally exhausted and totally thrilled.

To cap off a huge week, I wanted to celebrate two clients whose long road to an ID ended this week.

In the picture above is Harry, a recent graduate from LA County's school for deaf and hard of hearing students. The school district called me a few months ago asking if I could help Harry get an ID so I hopped over to the school and met him, a translator (ASL is one of the many languages I feel guilty I don't know), and the school district representative. We also got his dad on the phone so the tiny office was pretty crowded with souls.

We ordered Harry's birth certificate and it looked like everything had gone through just fine, until a few weeks later when I GOT A REJECTION LETTER. I was devastated. Our hero General Counsel, Marissa, got on the phone with Vital Records and after getting the run around for a bit and a long wait while apparently all of the Vital Records employees were at a conference at the same time, the office figured out that a new employee had made a mistake. Phew. They mailed his birth certificate and two months after we first met, Harry and I went to the DMV yesterday and got him a REAL ID.

And then there's Travis.

Travis and I met in February and we ordered his birth certificate right away. They rejected the usual application and so we had to get a limited Power of Attorney, an option we occasionally have to resort to. We did the paperwork, got the notarization, sent in the application with the fee, and waited. And waited. And waited. In the meantime, Travis's supported housing wanted to kick him out for not having an ID. He texted me constantly. I spoke to two case managers and the woman who runs the housing. I sent supporting documentation proving that he was doing everything he was supposed to do and that he had no control over a state Vital Records department. They threatened constantly to put him back out on the street. It was a nightmare. Marissa, our in house hero, called Vital Records regularly, they could give us no news. This is all we thought about for three months.

And then, finally, Marissa called in May and they said they were finally looking at March applications. We should hear soon. So we waited some more. Last week, we got mail- A REJECTION. They wanted a document that had not been in the instructions. I was apoplectic. Marissa, a much calmer soul, called and impressed upon them how serious this was. We could not wait another three months. And then, like an angel, a manager at Vital Records said that if we overnighted the application with the extra document and included an overnight envelope addressed back to us, she would process it right away. And she did!!! Two days later I had Travis's birth certificate in my hands!

Today, I picked Travis up and we went to the DMV. On the way he told me that he just wants to "be a good dude with a good job who goes home to a nice place". He said people look at Black men and expect them to be up to no good and he "just wants to be a person". He told me about how he used to drive a truck and how it was the hardest work he had ever done. He told me about his son, who he worries about.

We got to the DMV, it was miraculously empty thanks to some thunderstorms earlier in the day, and pretty quickly Travis had a temporary ID in his hands!

On the way back, he told me that he had been trying to get an ID for ten years. His case managers, mental health counselors, and everyone he encountered had not been able to do it. "You're the only one who has been able to help me". He's a tough dude who said he tries not to smile a lot but he was close to tears. He recently got a job at the VA hospital and now he'll be able to start. As I dropped him off, he shook my hand and said thank you. Our next stop is to help pay off a fine in another state with our Fines and Fees Fund so he can get a driver's license.

These two IDs mean so much to me, they were hard won and will allow two men- one young and just starting out, one a little older and starting over- to build the lives they want to live.

As always, thank you so much. None of this is possible without your support.

Thank you,
Kat

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