CURRENT POSITION Adult Services Coordinator, Jackson District Library, MI DEGREE MLIS, Wayne State University, Detroit, 2011 FAST FACT Battles was born and raised in Jackson, MI, and grew up visiting the library he now works in.  FOLLOW uwjackson.org/other-impact-work Photo by Lucas Meyers

Clean Slate

Calvin Battles’s work includes monthly meetings with a network of nonprofits and service agencies to determine the most efficient and cost-effective ways to use their resources. About four years ago, they began discussing the criminalization of poverty and the impact it was having on their community. 

“The truth of the matter was, there were people who had felonies from 35 years ago who were being told they can’t get housing and can’t get a job because of a felony from when they were 16 years old,” Battles says. “Now they’re 50. The conclusion we came to was it’s not a skills thing, not a lack of people who want to work, not any of those things. Having a criminal history would stop people dead in their tracks.”

Many of these people were eligible to have their convictions expunged from their records, but the process—and the paperwork—was daunting. There were numerous areas that needed to be addressed: expungement itself, but also working with legal groups and advocacy for implementing Clean Slate laws and expungement expansion laws.

For direct assistance, Battles and his group set up expungement fairs to provide resources and information. “At the first fair, there were 20 or 30 people who showed up, and we thought, Hey, this is great,” Battles said. “We did another one three months later, and 125 people showed up.” Many people skipped the first one, thinking it was a sting operation, but once they learned from their friends it was legitimate, they came.

Battles knew he was onto something. He turned the events into regular offerings at the library. He partnered with a lawyer from Legal Services of South Central Michigan to train library staff to determine who was eligible for expungement. His staff learned how to help people use online expungement paperwork through Michigan Legal Help.

It works. More than 50 people signed up in 2020–21, and many received help that enabled them to gain housing, get promotions, and qualify for jobs they wouldn’t have qualified for previously. He mentioned a woman who was repeatedly offered a promotion at her job at a doctor’s office, but an old shoplifting record caused the offer to be rescinded multiple times. With the library’s help, she had that record expunged, and within three weeks, she had the promotion.