Cal-ID Project
Support our 2024 Pilot Project
When people come home after decades in prison, a California ID opens up doors to jobs, housing, healthcare, and other vital services. Not having an ID means not having access to work, a home, or healthcare. This can lead to frustration, and hopelessness, and likely plays a role in our current recidivism rate of over 70%.
Opening doors We believe that an effective re-entry program begins in prison. Having an ID upon leaving prison opens up doors to legal employment, healthcare, housing, and banking services. Without an ID, those doors remain closed, and the struggle to build a meaningful life in the community remains a dream that is out of reach.
We are gearing up to launch our Alameda County pilot in 2024 to support people transitioning home after decades in prison. We will walk them through the process of getting a California ID while in prison and provide education that will prepare them for the world they will face when they return. We are actively writing a workbook highlighting key areas they can work on before coming home so they will be more prepared than many of those who came before them. The incredible part of the workbook is the stories from those who have transitioned successfully, as they are an accurate guide to what it is like to come home after decades in prison.
Our Alameda County Cal-ID Project will support people getting their IDs before they leave prison. SB 629, 2021 (Roth) with our support will allow people to leave prison with their Cal-IDs. We need your support to make it happen!
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Opening doors to employment,
services and more.
Rayvon shares his experience getting and ID in the community. It wasn't easy. We want to change that.
Opening doors to the community
George's journey to get his Cal ID was full of unexpected turns. He didn't expect to need
a notary.
Tell your Cal ID story. We want to hear how you got your ID.
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Contact us and share your story!
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CALIFORNIA ID CAMPAIGN
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When people come home after decades in prison, a California ID opens up doors to jobs, housing, healthcare, and other vital services. Not having an ID means not having access to work, a home, or healthcare. This can lead to frustration, hopelessness, and likely plays a role in our current recidivism rate of over 50%.
Our Road Prison Project and other advocacy organizations are working together to ensure that people incarcerated in California State Prisons can receive their California IDs before they leave prison so that they can start their lives with the ability to work. In the community, getting a California ID or Driver’s license requires documentation that can be difficult to obtain and can also be expensive. The most important documentation to obtain is one’s birth certificate and Social Security Card, this is the first step in getting a California ID or Driver’s license.
Our program participants would work toward obtaining their birth certificate, and that process alone could take a few weeks or up to many months to complete, due to the specific factors in each person’s situation. One factor was that the process often depended on a person’s ability to use the internet, a skill they are unable to develop in prison. At Our Road Prison Project, we walk participants through the online process, get documents notarized, and pay any necessary fees if they don’t have the available funds. There are many challenges to transitioning from prison to the community. Getting an ID in prison would overcome this barrier. We are working with California State legislators to pass legislation to mandate that people secure their IDs in prison.
Just imagine your life without an ID or Driver’s license. You would be unable to work, drive, have a home, a bank account, or a credit card. Now imagine coming home from prison after decades and not having a California ID. Your donation will help to make a tremendous difference in the lives of people coming home across California.