One in three Americans has a criminal record, many of which reflect dropped charges or fines their holders simply couldn't afford to pay. In Greenville, MS, where far too many people, especially Black residents, can't pursue their goals because of barriers created by their records, LISC and a coalition of partners launched an expungement program to help job- and education-seekers get those charges and fines dismissed. It's part of a movement to upend the criminalization of poverty and help people advance on the path to wellbeing and financial stability, in Greenville and beyond.
LeShon Brooks describes his hometown of Greenville, Mississippi as a place where “everybody knows each other, everybody’s friendly and everyone has that Southern hospitality.” But growing up on the city’s south side, he saw evidence all around him of how systemic racism and decades of disinvestment shaped the landscape, and the future, for so many young Black community members, many of whom get ensnared in the criminal justice system.
Mississippi, in fact, now has the highest incarceration rate in the United States. And Washington County – where Greenville is located – has one of the lowest levels of upward economic mobility in the country. “People can get trapped in poverty,” said Justin Burch, program director at Rural LISC, who has worked with community partners in Greenville for years. “They are unable to get out under the current systems that keep them there.”
Many of Brooks' friends were swept up in (and some lost to) gang activity and drug abuse. But he wanted more for himself. In high school, he played sports, was in a band, and eventually learned how to play six instruments and sight-read music. All along, he harbored a dream to work in healthcare someday and help the community that raised him.
When Brooks graduated, job opportunities were scarce, so he picked up various roles at local warehouses to support his family. In addition to the toll the hard physical labor took on his body, the ten- to 12-hour shifts kept him from spending time with his children, and after more than a decade, warehouse work wasn’t getting him any closer to a well-paying career he was passionate about.
As Brooks contemplated a switch to medicine in his 30s, he knew there would be barriers to entering a career in that field: minor drug possession charges from his past had created a criminal record that could block him from acceptance to training programs and financial aid. And he knew that medical assistant training programs were expensive.
With help from Rural LISC and Washington County Economic Alliance (WCEA), a local economic development organization, Brooks received a workforce training scholarship and earned his Medical Administrative Assistant certification. Still, he knew he would face challenges to getting further certification in the field due to his justice-involvement.
LISC has worked with Greenville residents for years, investing $2.2 million in grants alone to support affordable housing and economic development as well as capacity building for the organizations doing that work. More recently, the focus has been on partnering with community groups and the police department to address crime and criminal justice issues. Through LISC’s Project 10X initiative to close racial wealth, health and opportunity gaps, LISC has injected nearly $600,000 to target the criminalization of poverty and race that deeply impact Black communities in Mississippi.
In 2019, LISC, with support from Walmart Foundation, funded an AmeriCorps member to serve with WCEA to coordinate the group’s safety work and research the systemic issues that have prevented the community from thriving. (She has gone on to become the workforce and special projects coordinator for WCEA’s safety and justice efforts.) The expungement program launched with an innovation grant to Rural LISC, funded by a gift from MacKenzie Scott, as well as an Ascendium Philanthropy education grant.
The program was designed to help people with criminal backgrounds navigate complex expungement processes, in order to get minor charges removed from their records. Because so many employers require background checks and ask about criminal history in order to make hires, job-seekers in Washington County had a dire need for this kind of support.
“Expungement programs address issues around dropped charges or fines that become part of a criminal record and then serve as a barrier to education, training opportunities and jobs,” said John Connelly, senior program officer with LISC’s Safety & Justice team. Because of LISC’s history in Greenville, and the relationships nurtured over the years, he added, “the building blocks were there and the partners already at the table.”
The first Greenville clinic was held this past spring, in partnership with the Greenville Mayor’s Office, the Magnolia Bar Association – a Black lawyers’ association based in nearby Jackson – and several local community organizations. The clinic was expecting to serve about 25 people in total. On the first day, the line to enter wrapped around the block. By the time the clinic ended, nearly 100 participants had taken steps toward expunging their records.
“What we saw at the clinic was textbook criminalization of poverty,” Burch noted. Most of the participants were never convicted of crimes, but instead had dropped or waived charges that nevertheless stayed on their records because they could not afford to pay court clerk fees.
Brooks was referred to the clinic by the WCEA, the same organization that was supporting his career training. The expungement team was able to work with him quickly—he had stopped by during a break from his job—and afterwards, he dropped off his paperwork at the local courthouse, where it was processed and his record expunged. “The [clinic staff] had no problem helping me and were very nice and informative,” Brooks said. “I really didn’t think it was going to be that easy, but they did it so fast.”
Soon after attending the clinic, Brooks had to undergo a background check for a CNA job at a nursing home: his record was finally clear. Since the expungement, he has enrolled in an EMT training program, and works as a fifth-grade teacher’s assistant at an elementary school, a job he wouldn’t have been able to get with a criminal record. He also coaches football and basketball and even works an extra job at the local convenience store. Brooks and his wife, a social worker, plan to open their own home health aide company.
Thanks to the expungement clinic, “there are now 100 more people in a rural Black community who are better able to join the workforce and postsecondary systems,” Burch said. “Their background limited the type of jobs they could get, the quality of those jobs and the career pathways that were open to them. The clinic really closed the loop for people who were skill seekers and trying to start a career to better themselves and their families.”
All clinic participants were also offered employment coaching and placements in career pathway training programs at Greenville’s junior college (the programs are free to clients through Rural LISC’s partnership with WCEA).
The clinic’s success has leveraged other support for the community, too: LISC is now providing technical assistance for an $800,000 Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation grant from the Department of Justice to expand the work of the Greenville expungement program, including through research on policy change to upend the barriers created by clerk fees. The Greenville program is now serving as a model for similar efforts in Kansas City, MO and Jacksonville, FL.
Brooks’ ultimate goal is to become a nurse, specializing in care for children or the elderly. In his teaching job at the elementary school, he is in constant contact with young people growing up in similar situations as he did, and they see in him a powerful model of what an adult community member can be. “I come from here and I’m proud of being here,” said Brooks. “And I’m trying to give back.”