Community Empowerment
Our priorities are to address the Pillars of Successful Reentry after incarceration or a criminal conviction which includes housing, employment, health care, education and civic engagement.
Trauma Informed Peer Led Reentry, Workforce, Training/Certification & Mentoring Model (TIPLR)
Nation Outside undertook a thorough and inclusive design process to develop the TIPLR program, incorporating feedback from hundreds of stakeholders, including impacted people, their families, and community organizations.
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By providing returning citizens with the empathetic connections, information, and resources they need
to REMAIN & THRIVE in their communities, we are addressing part of our larger strategy to create sustainable funding streams for statewide peer led reentry work, establish industry standards for reentry focused peer mentoring, and create economic mobility for justice involved people through workforce development.
Clean Slate Initiative
On October 13, 2020, Public Act 193 of 2020 was signed into law with an effective date of April 11, 2021. This act included a group of bills collectively known as the “Clean Slate” package. These bills have impacted the rules and procedures an individual may use to have prior convictions set aside. In addition to making several changes to the existing paper application processes and eligible offenses, the Clean Slate package also created a process to automatically set aside certain convictions without an application.
The new automatic process required the Michigan State Police (MSP) to make technical changes to the Criminal History Record (CHR) database. To make those changes, the legislation provided for a two-year development process, making the effective date April 11, 2023.
Nation Outside has been working on expungement reform since the 2020 passage of Clean Slate in Michigan. In 2021, we made history by partnering with the Attorney General's office, Supreme Court Chief Justice, Bridgette McCormick, and the Genesee County Sheriff Department to execute the largest single day expungement fair in Michigan's history, with over 741 Marijuana Expungements.
Automated Process to Notify Courts
The MSP engaged the Department of Technology Management and Budget (DTMB) to develop the automated program for setting aside eligible convictions within the CHR database. In addition, the statute requires the MSP make all set asides within the database accessible to each court in the state. To accomplish this, beginning April 11, 2023, the MSP will be notifying the courts daily and providing a file, via secure transfer, of all eligible convictions that have been set aside in the MSP CHR database.
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Set Asides May Require Application, Some are Automatic
While some individuals will be eligible for setting aside convictions by application, individuals with certain types of misdemeanor or felony records could or will additionally qualify to have convictions set aside automatically.
Fair Chance Housing
Recent research has shown that formerly incarcerated people are 10 times more likely to
experience homelessness than the general population. The Michigan Fair Chance Access to Housing Act seeks to expand housing opportunities for people with records who have served their time and are seeking to provide for themselves and their families.