Health & Safety
All workers have the right to a safe and healthy workplace, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. CLS assists workers seeking…
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Roxanne Jones Fellowship Brings Opportunity, Connections
This summer, Community Legal Services (CLS) was thrilled to establish the Senator Roxanne Jones Fellowship to enable future leaders in…
Right to Counsel Passes Philadelphia City Council!
Right to Counsel passed unanimously in Philadelphia City Council on November 14! This bill guarantees low income tenants an attorney…
Resolving Tangled Titles in Philadelphia
Para información en español What is a tangled title? If you live in a house that you think you…
Report: Supporting Women in the Criminal Legal System Through Access to Diversionary Programs
Today, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, as part of Incarcerated Women’s Working Group (“Working Group”) released a report on increasing…
Report: Philadelphia Should Expand Its Kinship Care Program
We all know instinctively, and it is borne out in the research, that children do better with their families. Removal…
COVID-19’s Impact on Race and Housing Security Across Philadelphia: Philadelphia Renters Report
Read the full report Racial and economic disparities in affordable housing existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic, and yet, new…
Report: Pennsylvania Clean Slate: Delivering on Its Promises
Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law, Act 56 of 2018, was passed to bring criminal record sealing to scale by the use…
Report: Mending the Safety Net – Why Pennsylvania Must Restore Its TANF Program to Protect Its Neediest Families
Today we observe the passage of “welfare reform” on August 22, 1996, which “ended welfare as we know it” and…
Report: Legal Remedies and Limitations on the Employment of People with Criminal Records in Pennsylvania
Download the full report Like most Americans, people with criminal records need to be employed to support themselves and their…
Report: Breaking the Record: Dismantling the Barriers Eviction Records Place on Housing Opportunities
Each of the nearly 20,000 eviction complaints filed in Philadelphia Municipal Court each year carries a lifelong blemish on a…
Report from CLS and PULP Reveals Energy Insecurity Among Black and Latinx Households in Pennsylvania
Today, Community Legal Services and the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project released a report that reveals that Black and Latinx households…
Report: Debt Collection in Philadelphia
Community Legal Services commissioned the following study by the Reinvestment Fund to learn about the impact of debt collection cases…
Report: Breaking Down Barriers to Record Clearing – A Survey of the Field
Clearing criminal records can be life-changing, leading to employment, higher wages, housing, educational opportunities, and more. For the one in…
Reflections on Racial Injustice from CLS’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer
Reflections from CLS Deputy Director of Operations and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Brenda Marrero on racial injustice.
Pennsylvania UC System Must Be Rebuilt Strategically After the Pandemic and Benefits Modernization
Traditionally, Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation (UC) system was simple and effective. An unemployed worker went to an “unemployment office,” filed a…
