Hi, everybody!

This year has been a lot.

Even that feels like a gigantic understatement. Between a statewide affordable housing crisis, skyrocketing healthcare costs, and a tremendous assault on reproductive rights, many people are struggling. Rather than address the systemic racism and income inequality that underlie these struggles, however, politicians have chosen to scapegoat the most vulnerable among us—from bail reform rollbacks to Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, a $4 billion program targeting undocumented migrants. Whenever lawmakers restrict rights or increase surveillance, our most marginalized community members face the greatest burdens. 

The only way onward is together.

Texas Fair Defense Project's mission is simple: we fight to end the criminalization of poverty in Texas. We do this by offering driver’s license recovery, fines and fees removal, and criminal record clearing services to hundreds of community members annually—fully free of charge. We also craft anti-poverty policies that help hundreds of thousands of Texans each year, making it possible for them to get work, find housing, run errands, and live their everyday lives without fear of repercussions or incrimination. And we make profound and lasting changes in our legal system by taking on discriminatory laws and policies that increase surveillance and incarceration.

In my role as Legal Assistant for TFDP's Pro Bono program, in collaboration with our skilled Client Services team and our amazing volunteer pro bono attorneys, I have had the opportunity to connect with, and assist, hundreds of low-income Texans resolve their criminal records and/or reinstate their driver's licenses. That means they have better access to employment, housing, education and other resources for themselves and their families. For people who have experienced the impact of the criminal legal system, this means more than words can express!

In the face of this year's challenges, we at TFDP are doubling down—and we’re asking you to join us. This year, we expanded support available to clients by increasing our client fund and starting a new systems navigation program. We are working with allies to defend the progress we’ve made over the years in reforming bail. We grew our Client Advocacy Fellows program, working with former clients to effect policy change. Our record clearing program grew through a partnership with the jobs site Indeed, helping more people remove barriers to housing, education, and employment as we leverage this work into systemic reforms in the 2023 legislative session with the Clean Slate Texas Coalition. 

Your support creates deep and direct change.

By committing to TFDP, you make it possible for us to continue vital work:

• $100 allows our systems navigator to connect clients to wraparound health, housing, and employment services.
   

• $250 helps us restore a community member's license, so they can safely drive their kids to school and buy groceries.
   

• $365 helps our advocacy fellows push for laws and policies that will improve conditions for millions of low-income Texans
   

• $500 lets us directly travel throughout the state to community members in need so we can help safely untangle them from discriminatory and predatory police practices
   

• $1,000 enables us to run an entire driver's license recovery clinic, so we can support many community members at once
   

• $5,000 helps us take on discriminatory laws and state policies with high-impact litigation
   

We want to tell you the impact our work is having on people’s lives. After working with one of our staff attorneys to get his criminal record cleared, Roberto* was contacted by our Systems Navigator to see what support he might need. Many of our clients need help with securing housing or the public assistance to which they’re entitled–but what Roberto needed most were the tools to find work. Our Systems Navigator tailored her work to his particular needs and through partnerships we developed this year, she was able to connect Roberto with a laptop from PCs for People and an Indeed account to search for jobs. Roberto told us that the criminal record clearing relief he had received gave him the confidence to go for jobs he would not have applied for before, and that he was able to land a great new job in management! With his case now closed and new job secured, Roberto is now working with TFDP to share his story and push for systemic reforms. 

We need your support–now more than ever.

The forces we are fighting against are powerful. But in the face of these challenges, we are not backing down. And we need your help – now more than ever. We know that you share our core belief that poverty is not a crime. By making a donation today, you will provide us with key support in the fight against the criminalization of poverty in Texas.

In solidarity,
TFDP

P. S. Your support is more critical now than ever. Every dollar donated to this campaign will support clients like Roberto disentangle from the criminal system and move on with their lives.
 

*Name changed