Driving while poor; license recovery program hits funding roadblock

MILWAUKEE - Tens of thousands of Milwaukee area drivers have licenses that are suspended or revoked, but an effort to restore their driving privilege is running into roadblocks. It is a little-known program you are already paying for.

Federal highway data shows drivers who have had a license suspended or revoked are four times more likely than valid drivers to end up in a fatal crash. In other words, licensed drivers are safer drivers. In Wisconsin, however, license suspensions are not always the result of dangerous driving. For some, the greatest offense may be driving while poor.

'They just piled up on me'

For 44 years, Donta Williams never had a driver's license, but that does not mean he didn't drive.

"I mean you have to be able to commute to work," Williams said. "If you have children, you have to be able to pick them up from school."

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When Williams finally decided to get legal this year, he encountered a problem.

"It snowballs. One ticket rolls, and it keeps rolling, and keeps rolling, and they just piled up on me," Williams said.

The license Williams had never gotten was officially "suspended" by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for unpaid traffic fines.

"That's a financial obligation," Williams said. "It's just hard to just accomplish and achieve those payments because you have so many other bills."

It seemed like an impossible task until Williams discovered the Center for Driver's License Recovery and Employability, a taxpayer-funded program inside the Student Resource Center at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) in downtown Milwaukee.

An essential credential

"A driver's license is essential," said Clarence Johnson, who is the President of Wisconsin Community Services, the non-profit that runs the center.

"Having a driver's license is a work credential," said Jay Tucker, Community & Reintegration Services Manager for WCS. "You’re hard-pressed to be anywhere and not need a valid driver's license."

According to WisDOT, 21,977 Milwaukee County drivers have suspended or revoked licenses. That's 3.7% of all licensed drivers in the county, but those drivers are involved in 22% of the county's fatal crashes.

"When more people have licenses, it’s safer for our entire community," said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who has budgeted tens of millions of dollars to reengineer city streets in ways that make reckless drivers more difficult and less dangerous.

"We’re making investments all across Milwaukee," Johnson said.

Mayor Johnson plans to hire police officers in the coming year and to fill three full recruiting classes at the Police Academy. He is hoping that will help on the enforcement end; something the Milwaukee Common Council's Public Safety Committee called for two weeks ago.

"We want to see some accountability," said Milwaukee Alderman Scott Spiker to representatives of the Milwaukee Police Department during a hearing on unlicensed drivers. "We want to see a sense of urgency."

But Heather Hough, Chief of Staff to Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman, said the problem is complex.

Dangerous or destitute?

"I do want to make a distinction between operating without a license and reckless driving," Hough said. "Because they are not one and the same."

Nearly half of all license suspensions in Wisconsin are imposed; not for driving dangerously, but for failure to pay a fine. Advocates for economically-distressed residents say they are not looking to give a break to drivers who are thumbing their nose at the system, but rather those who are simply driving while poor.

"You are almost put in a situation where you have no other alternative but to drive," Williams said.

The license recovery program was first established in 2007 to help Milwaukee's poorest citizens eliminate a barrier to employment. Seventeen years later, it remains free for Milwaukee County residents who meet income guidelines.

Devising a plan

"We're just navigating, doing all the footwork for them," said Taffie Foster-Toney, one of the program's case managers. 

Foster-Toney screens applicants, then refers them to an attorney from Legal Action of Wisconsin, who assesses the situation and helps the driver to come up with a plan.

"Are there six courts involved? Is there one court involved? Is there any money coming in?" said Sarah Lund, Legal Action attorney. "You present options, and then you talk to them about what’s realistic."

Some clients cannot afford to pay their traffic fines, but they are not aware that community service may be an option instead. That is what Donta Williams did to work of his debts.

"I took care of all my tickets in Milwaukee County through community service," Williams said. I’ve taken care of tickets in Dodge County through community service."

While lawyers negotiate with courts to reduce fines or find alternatives, case managers keep participants on track.

One client tolds Foster-Toney on the phone that his next payment was not due until the 20th of the month.

"I said, ‘Today is the 20th. Like, you need to pay. It’s today.' Sometimes I feel like a counselor."

Everybody has a budget

Before anyone is allowed to graduate from the program, they are required to take a course in financial literacy.

"You've got to figure out, ‘Where is this going to come from? Where is that going to come from?’" said Kenyetta Taylor, who took the class in August. 

"I'm probably not going to be smoking every day now," Taylor said. "I'm probably going to cut it down."

Taylor said she needed a valid license, so relatives would trust her to borrow their cars.

"My mom didn’t want me to drive her truck. My dad didn’t want me to drive his truck because I didn't have a license," Taylor said.

The program works.

From 2021 through 2023, 59% of the people who enrolled in the program ended up getting a valid license. In 2023 alone, the success rate hit 67% – meaning two out of every three people who entered the program left it as legal drivers.

"It's really a tremendous resource that’s not as well known as we need it to be," Johnson said.

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For the President of WCS, that presents a conundrum. He would like more people to know about the program. He is just not sure he can help them. 

A bump in the road

"The demand exceeds the capacity that we have," Johnson said. "We’ve had to scale it back."

Tax audits show that over the past eight years, the Center for Driver's License Recovery and Employability has brought in an average of $340,000 in revenue each year. It's a mix of public and private funding, with the biggest source coming from the City of Milwaukee. A $150,000 annual gift from the city's Community Development Block Grant funds.

"My administration, we put into this," Mayor Johnson said. "If there are businesses out there that want their employees to be able to travel safety to work, then we’d like them to look at contributing to this effort as well."

At the current funding scale, the program is helping an average of 107 drivers per year to restore a valid license or get one for the first time. They offer guidance and direction to another 270 people each year who don't formally enroll. But with such a small staff, Johnson says, there are limits.

"We could serve more people if we had more funding," Johnson said.

"It feels amazing," Williams said.

Earlier this year, Williams completed the license recovery program.

"Proud owner of my first license," Williams beamed, as he plunged a hand into his pants pocket to fish out the evidence. "Listen, I'm proud to show it to the whole wide world."

When it comes to making Milwaukee roads safer, the license recovery program may be a small drop in a very large bucket. 

For Donta Williams, "It feels so amazing to just drive, it’s a weight off my shoulder." 

It's priceless.

While the program's budget has remained relatively unchanged over the past eight years, one source of funds appears to have dropped off significantly. Milwaukee County used to contribute up to $30,000 per year to the center. But from 2021 to 2023, IRS audits show the county's contribution plummeted to between $700 and $1,600 each year. 

A spokesperson for the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, Jill Lintonen, said "underfunding" is not the issue. Each year the county's Child Support Services division makes $20,000 available for license recovery services through the Milwaukee Fatherhood "FIRE" program. That program aims to keep fathers involved in the child support system engaged in their children's lives. 

Between 2021 and 2023, few participants in the FIRE program applied for license recovery assistance, meaning only $3,800 was spent from an available pool of $60,000. 

Because of our inquiry, Lintonen said the county intends to meet with its FIRE program partners to ensure eligible fathers are informed of the program's free services.

Lintonen's full statement

"The Driver’s License Recovery Program actively presents their services to all FIRE program participants. This ensures that everyone eligible has the opportunity to engage with the program. The FIRE program partners are responsible for referring eligible FIRE participants to WCS for driver’s license recovery services, whether they are in need of these services or voluntarily choose to participate.

Milwaukee County Child Support Services (CSS) greatly values its relationship with WCS and the Driver's License Recovery Program, and is committed to working together to serve the community through this important service. Participation is voluntary and all participants are informed of this verbally and in writing during the enrollment process.

CSS will meet with FIRE grant partners to ensure that eligible participants are fully aware of and referred to the Driver’s License Recovery Program, that there are no barriers or misunderstandings about the referral process that might be affecting participant engagement, and how CSS can better facilitate referrals to fully utilize the allocated funding. 

To reiterate, underfunding by Milwaukee County is not the issue here, as the funds have been made available and remain fully allocated for the program's use.

To enroll in the license recovery program, you must:

• Be a Milwaukee County resident
• Have income less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Level
• Have a suspension or revocation in Wisconsin; and
• Do not have an active or pending drunk driving case

For more information about the program, call 414-297-6407, or visit the Center for Driver's License Recovery and Employability at MATC downtown:

700 W. State Street, Milwaukee
Student Resource Center (S Building)
Room S215