If you are convicted of a crime and serve time, your punishment does not always end the day you are released to go home. Community members who have criminal records experience hardships with finding housing, employment, and attending college. Portland Community College’s new program CLEAR Clinic, one of our SEED Grant Fund recipients, wants to help.
By hosting free Friday clinics, CLEAR Clinic, will support Portlanders encountering significant barriers to mobility and financial independence due criminal records. The Clinic will also help Portlanders who need legal assistance with evictions and immigration issues and provide services through PCC’s Community Workforce Development, Career Pathways, and the DREAMers Resource Center. Rakeem Washington, PCC’s Director of Access and Reentry, told us “[PCC has] deliberately structured the CLEAR Clinic to be at the intersection of education, career, social and legal services. It is our intention to help participants find a pathway forward once the stress and weight of legal issues have been resolved. The CLEAR Clinic aims to help create a Portland metropolitan area that values all of its residents and allows each person to shine their brightest, without being held back by legal issues.”
The CLEAR Clinic also benefits students currently enrolled in PCC’s Paralegal Program by coupling their curriculum with hands-on legal experience. Paralegal students will be invited to work at the Clinic with attorneys, social workers, and law students to gain legal experience, while increasing legal access and justice for our Portland community.
For more information about 2020 SEED Grant Recipient, PCC’s Clear Clinic, please check out https://www.pcc.edu/clear-clini…
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Recently, the City of Portland Cannabis Program announced its 2020 SEED Grant Fund recipients. The fund provides support to non-profit and for-profit entities working toward restitution and restoration of BIPOC communities negatively impacted by racially-biased cannabis prohibition. Over the next few weeks, we will present a series highlighting the grantees and the wonderful work they are doing to empower our Portland community. Find out more about SEED Grant Initiatives here.