Trading Mere Survival for a Chance at Stability

New York Times

28-04-2025

Da'Monya Cavitt tiptoes down the stairs of the house in Vallejo, Calif., that he shares with his father and two other refinery workers. He moves quietly — everyone else works night shifts, and he's careful not to wake them. The curtains stay drawn. The rooms stay dark. The creaky floors demand attention. There's no Wi-Fi, but there's space, a roof overhead, and — most important — possibilities.
At 29, Mr. Cavitt is ready to trade survival for stability. After years of housing insecurity, a carousel of low-wage jobs, and a childhood marked by upheaval, he's been accepted into a competitive apprenticeship program with the Steamfitters Local 342 in Concord, Calif. It's a path to solid union wages, benefits, and a career he hopes will allow him to someday own a home — maybe even flip houses like his mother used to.
'You get to a point where you realize you don't just want to work — you need a career,' he said. 'I want to build something for myself.'
For now, he lives in a small upstairs bedroom, just large enough for a bed and a dresser; a PlayStation 5 controller and iPad rest neatly on his quilted bedspread. There's a portable AC in one corner, a ceiling fan above, and a narrow path between furniture.
'It's pretty spartan,' Mr. Cavitt said of the furnished rental. But compared with the cramped motel room he and his father, Anthony Levi, 56, shared for nearly a year, this place is a breath of fresh air.
Until recently, the two lived at a Budget Inn in Vallejo. They stayed for 10 months, packed into a kitchenette with two beds. Mr. Cavitt kept things quiet and dark there, too, while Mr. Levi slept off refinery shifts.
At the new place, the silence is sometimes broken by the sound of barking — 'two huge beasts across the street and one next door,' Mr. Cavitt said of the neighbors' dogs, who launch into a frenzy whenever a delivery truck dares enter the cul-de-sac. 'Haven't figured out how to keep them quiet yet,' he adds good-naturedly.
Mr. Cavitt's journey to this moment has been long and unpredictable. Born in Watts, he spent his early childhood bouncing around Southern California. His mother, Nicole Cavitt, 48, bought and flipped houses, often living in them until they were sold. But when the dot-com bubble burst and the 9/11 attacks sent markets into a tailspin, her real estate business collapsed. They landed back in Watts, in an environment she had tried to shield him from.
'That's not where she wanted to raise me,' Mr. Cavitt said. 'There were gangs, there was violence, there were drugs. There were a lot of ways for an innocent person to get hurt for no reason.'
When Ms. Cavitt moved to Georgia, Mr. Cavitt — then 14 — declined to follow. He stayed behind in L.A., moving in with a friend's family. Later, he joined his mother in Georgia for about a year, but came back again, once more living with the same friend. He got a job at a natural foods store and supported himself through high school.
'The healthiest I've ever been!' he said, laughing.
Da'Monya Cavitt, 29
Job: Customer service at a cannabis dispensary
On his residential dreams: 'In five years, I hope to be a homeowner — paid well enough to own multiple properties and flip houses like my mom used to.'
On starting classes: 'Longevity and stability were — and still are — the end goal. So I'm sticking to my script because I know I have something going now.'
That living arrangement lasted until a fire tore through the friend's house. 'After that, we stayed with about five or six people in someone's living room,' he recalls. 'If you counted the dogs, there were about nine of us sleeping on a couch and a chair. I had no idea where any of my stuff was.'
Ms. Cavitt eventually moved to Arizona and then to Seattle, in 2016. She persuaded Mr. Cavitt to go with her. By then, he'd started making music under the name 'King Cavitt' and dreaming about starting a fashion line called Renaissance.
In Seattle, he worked as a groundskeeper and moved into an apartment — a one-bedroom for $1,200 a month.
'It was my first apartment,' he said. 'But sometimes, when things come easy, you take them for granted. I was late with rent. I had to get real with myself.'
He lost the apartment in 2022 and moved back in with his mother. That's when his father stepped in, encouraging him to return to California and look into union work.
With dispensary experience from Seattle, Mr. Cavitt found a customer service job at a shop in Fairfield, about 20 miles from Vallejo. He has a driver's license but not a car, so he commutes by Uber or Lyft — 'up to $35 a ride,' he said.
'I know customer service and I know weed,' he adds. 'But this is just to tide me over until I get that apprenticeship. Right now, I'm working on my credit, building savings. I really want to create an even foundation.'
That foundation starts with the Steamfitters program. Mr. Levi introduced him to the opportunity and encouraged him to apply. Mr. Cavitt got in. He's set to start classes in July.
The five-year program isn't easy to crack. According to a Local 342 spokesperson, only about 100 of the 1,000 annual applicants are accepted. But those who make the cut have a good shot at being placed directly into jobs, with starting wages around $30 an hour, plus benefits. For Mr. Cavitt, that paycheck would be life-changing.
In Vallejo, he pays $1,500 in rent — a leap from the motel, but still a stretch. 'It's not ideal,' he said. 'But it's progress.'