The Koch Pro Bono Initiative partnered with Kansas Legal Services to assist people with renewing or restoring their driver’s licenses.
Volunteers from the Koch Pro Bono Initiative and Kansas Legal Services assisted more than 70 people from Wichita, Kansas and the surrounding communities work toward renewing or restoring their driver’s licenses at a clinic on October 6.
The Koch Pro Bono Initiative is made up of employees and partners who work to help people remove barriers that prevent them from improving their lives and creating value for others. Not having a driver’s license can limit employment opportunities, prevent people from signing a lease or accessing healthcare services. By assisting people whose driver’s licenses have been suspended or revoked, the Koch Pro Bono Initiative is removing a barrier that can prevent them from reaching their full potential.
Getting a license reinstated can be a complicated process that involves multiple state and municipal agencies. At the clinic, clients receive free legal assistance based on their individual needs. Some get help completing the right documents, while others receive assistance filing motions with the court to reduce unpaid fines that might prevent their reinstatement.
“It’s easy for someone to get sucked into the system, and it just becomes a snowball effect, where it becomes really difficult for them to get out from underneath everything needed to get their license back,” said Bryan Bye, a Koch attorney who helped organize the clinic. “We see the need that exists in the community, and this is a quick way that we can work to drastically improve someone’s life.”
More than 40 volunteers from Koch participated in the event. Representatives from the Kansas Department of Revenue were also on hand to help people understand exactly what they owed and how they could pay it.
The Wichita clinic is one of many that the Koch Pro Bono Initiative holds across the country every year.
