Let's keep our immigrant neighbors safe and mobile during the pandemic and beyond!

The Driving Families Forward coalition is working to pass the Work and Family Mobility Act, which is state legislation to enable all qualified Massachusetts drivers, regardless of immigration status, to apply for a standard license.

We believe Driver’s Licenses is a COVID and racial justice issue. Amidst the current state of the world, we are standing up for the immigrant community and the black immigrant community, who have been directly affected by this pandemic and systemic inequalities, remains our priority.

There is no doubt that the lack of a driver's license is a part of systemic racism that continues to hold back our communities in more ways than one. Mobility is necessary and the current pandemic has shown how systemic inequities disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities, many of whom are immigrants.  

Immigrants make up a significant portion of the essential workforce in the agricultural, janitorial, and health care sectors, as a result they are at higher risk for contracting COVID-19. Both accessing these jobs and accessing healthcare require reliable transportation at a time when public transportation is not a safe or viable option.

Not only are driver's license essential to mobility, 78% of Massachusetts workers age 16 and older get to work by car, truck or van, but they also increase public safety by reducing the number of hit and run accidents.

Because of the public safety implications, The Work and Family Mobility Act has been endorsed by the Massachusetts Major Chiefs of Police Association and the Mass Bay transit authority. There is bipartisan support for driver’s license legislation across the U.S. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia already allow residents the right to apply for driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status, including New York, Vermont, and Connecticut.

The bill has been voted favorably out of the State Legislator's Joint Committee on Transportation in February, one step closer to an official vote in the state legislature. Please contact your State Legislator and tell them to support the Work and Family Mobility Act (H.3012/S.2061)