January 28, 2024

Community Legal Aid Receives Renewal of Funding to Help People with Criminal Court Records Overcome Barriers in Housing and Employment

BY Alyssa Golden, Senior Supervising Attorney, Community Legal Aid (413) 582-1377 / agolden@cla-ma.org

Community Legal Aid, the non-profit civil legal aid program serving the low-income and elderly residents of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester Counties, has received renewed funding for its CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information)/Re-entry Project, which serves clients in all five counties. Funding from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development’s Community Empowerment and Reinvestment Grant Program will support Community Legal Aid’s advocacy and community education efforts to address the civil consequences of clients’ involvement with the criminal court system. With this funding, Community Legal Aid will focus on assisting residents of Central and Western Massachusetts overcome barriers to housing and employment due to the presence of a criminal record.

Community Legal Aid’s CORI/Re-entry unit is supervised by Attorney Alyssa Golden, who leads a team of attorneys working out of Community Legal Aid’s offices in Northampton, Springfield, Pittsfield, and Worcester. Last year, the Project assisted over 200 people with expungement and sealing of records. In addition to serving individuals with criminal record-related issues, Attorney Golden and her team conduct trainings for community members and staff at local social service organizations.

Persons recently released from incarceration, and those with criminal records, can face many challenges, including barriers to housing and employment opportunities. Said Golden, “Criminal records have a devastating impact on individuals and families across the state. The health and well-being of communities depend on the access to resources, stability, and support of each community member. Civil legal assistance plays an important role in the fight to ensure access to cornerstone needs, like housing and stable sources of income. Our goal is to remove barriers whenever possible.”

This is the third year that the Commonwealth has offered the Community Empowerment and Reinvestment Program, which was developed to support communities with high rates of criminal justice system involvement and poverty. The program aims to bring positive economic outcomes to communities that have been adversely impacted by the criminal justice system and poverty. While over 140 applications were received, only 67 organizations were awarded grants under the program, making it the most competitive year to date.

About Community Legal Aid: Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health, and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.