Children caught in the court system and people reentering society after incarceration in Philadelphia will soon have additional help getting the resources they need.
Partners for Justice, a national organization focused on changing the public defense landscape, is expanding to Philly, hiring three full-time advocates in the city to help make connections and cut through red tape.
“Someone recently described our work as ‘court doulas,’” Emily Galvin-Almanza, PFJ cofounder and co-executive director, told Billy Penn. “I sort of think of us as bureaucracy doulas.”
In the works for several years, the project is a partnership with the Defender Association of Philadelphia. Ideally, said Chief Defender Keisha Hudson, it will demonstrate that added support for people who rely on public defenders can help them avoid the challenges of reentry.