Community Reinvestment Project: Vacating Criminal Records & Legal Financial Obligations

In January 2025, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation (GTCF) contracted with the Washington State Department of Commerce to support delivery of $1.275 million in Community Reinvestment Project funds to Washington communities specifically for Vacating Criminal Records and Legal Financial Obligations (LFO) Relief. GTCF delivered this scope of work in consultation with Tacoma-based Institute for Black Justice (IBJ). 

IBJ’s legal advocacy program, Project Gideon, focuses on legal referrals for:

• Drug-related convictions ruled unconstitutional by the State v. Blake Washington Supreme Court Decision 
• Vacating eligible criminal convictions
• Obtaining refunds of court fees 
• Restoration of civil rights

 The Department of Commerce’s Community Reinvestment Project (CRP) is a community-designed plan to uplift Black, Latine, and Indigenous communities disproportionately harmed by the historical design/enforcement of criminal laws and penalties for drug possession (otherwise known as the war on drugs).   

CRP RECORD VACATUR FUNDING PROCESS

The funding process for Vacating Criminal Records and LFO Relief was rooted in the principles and model developed by the Pierce County Local Advisory Team. Funding was delivered in partnership with, and upon final recommendation of, the Institute for Black Justice. 

GTCF gathered recommendations and information through consultation with partners including:

• Institute for Black Justice (Tacoma)
• Way to Justice (Spokane)
• CRP Funder Consortium
• Department of Commerce CRP Team
• Pierce County Local Advisory Team. 

 GTCF ensured the grant acceptance and delivery processes was as streamlined and flexible as possible. This process included the following steps: 

• Hosting virtual meetings with recommended organizations to better understand their needs, opportunities, and barriers related to this scope. 
• Reviewing the mission and activities of each organization to ensure they met CRP criteria and that dollars were allocated according to their corresponding CRP funding source. 
• Conducting due diligence to ensure that organizations were registered with the state and that they met By/For criteria or were working with and being recommended by a By/For entity. 
• Consulting with each recipient organization to confirm acceptance of funds, preferred delivery method, and all necessary paperwork for grant processing. 
• Final consultation with Institute for Black Justice to confirm final funding amounts.

CRP RECORD VACATUR IN ACTION

Criminal records and legal financial obligations present many barriers to generational wealth, particularly for Black, Latine, and Indigenous Communities.  With 1 in 3 adults nationally having a criminal record, supporting record vacatur and legal financial obligation resolution is key to increasing employment, housing, and education access throughout Pierce County and beyond.

Carol Mitchell, IBJ Founder & Director of Advocacy explained how CRP Record Vacatur funding helped expand their record vacatur program, Project Gideon, through a statewide network.  “This funding allowed us to hire a dedicated team of legal professionals who could focus exclusively on Project Gideon. The team now includes a retired Administrative Law Judge focused on recruiting and training the statewide network of community-based organizations (Project Gideon Learning Community) who will join us in the record vacatur effort.

Families Shoulder to Shoulder

“We are especially proud of our new relationship with Families Shoulder to Shoulder, a member of the Project Gideon Learning Community. Their work in the courts to address sentencing injustice, including their collaboration with the Black Prisoners’ Caucus, expands our reach into families impacted by the War Against Drugs. It also helps us develop trust-based relationships with the families they serve, so that we can address the barriers caused by criminal histories, and facilitate their transition from surviving to thriving.” 

Washington does not have a uniform statewide process for vacating criminal records. Carol said the Project Gideon Learning Community provides opportunities for statewide knowledge sharing and coordination with, “law firms and other agencies and organizations involved in the work, so that we can support each other’s efforts and leverage our unique resources.”

For grassroots organizations like IBJ, taking on government contracts can present challenges.  Carol shared how the intermediary partnership with GTCF helped mitigate those challenges and allowed them to accept CRP funding and focus on making an impact with those dollars, “We would not have been able to sign a government contract for the full amount of the grant without encumbering a significant share of our operating resources — which we were not willing to do. There are also insurance requirements and reporting requirements that create an administrative burden that is oftentimes not reimbursed at the full cost, and which take time away from delivering services. Having GTCF carry that risk made it possible for us to turn our attention to the work that needed to be done, and to the people who needed our help.”

CRP RECORD VACATUR FUNDING DISTRIBUTION