Detroit, Michigan – The City of Detroit and Project Clean Slate will be able to keep their work moving forward without pause after receiving a 2026 Michigan Justice Fund grant. The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan distributed the money as part of a program that will keep expungement services available in the city for the next two years.
The City of Detroit and Project Clean Slate have each received $200,000. Officials say that this region is very important for keeping the program’s pace, thus the money will go toward hiring more lawyers for expungement hearings. The grant closes that gap, which means that free legal help will still be available to both Detroit residents and City of Detroit employees who want to clean qualified convictions from their records.
Project Clean Slate works to get rid of problems that people have to deal with long after a case is over. Having a criminal record can make it harder to get a job, a place to live, or an education. Through its approach, qualifying convictions are permanently sealed, giving people a real second chance.
The country’s biggest municipal expungement attempt started in 2016 with only a few instances. The crew has helped clear more than 19,000 convictions so far, and they keep working on thousands more every year.
Stephani LaBelle, the Executive Director of Project Clean Slate, said that the Michigan Justice Fund has been backing the project since 2021. She said that the new grant is very important because it will let hearing attorneys keep clearing thousands of convictions for Detroiters who are eligible.
More than 15,000 people are likely to apply for the reward over the next two years, and 10,000 convictions are expected to be cleared. The program’s fiduciary and the city’s workforce agency, Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation, have received money.
DESC is also part of the Michigan Works network, which helps people who are coming back to the US find jobs. This helps make sure that clearing their records leads to actual opportunities.