About Us

Mission Statement: Project Clean Slate is a City of Detroit initiative that helps residents expunge criminal convictions and improve access to better employment, housing, and educational opportunities.

History: A thriving city creates opportunity for all its residents and helps remove barriers that limit economic, social, physical, and mental well-being. thousands of Detroiters who want to work and be a part of the city's comeback have been held back for too long because of past mistakes. In 2016, Mayor Duggan launched an innovative program called Project Clean Slate (PCS) to address this issue.

PCS is free expungement program for Detroit residents, with the goal of helping Detroiters clear their criminals records to create better opportunities for employment, education, and housing.

There are approximately 168,000 Detroiters who are eligible for expungement. However, many do not seek expungement for a variety of reasons: they do not know they are eligible, they are financially unable to retain an attorney, they have had a negative experience with the criminal justice system, or they do not know how to navigate the complex process. PCS was created to eliminate those barriers.

In 2019, Mayor Duggan worked with a bi-partisan group of state legislators to reform the state's expungement law. The reforms greatly expanded the number and types of convictions eligible for expungement and took effect on April 11, 2001.

From the beginning, the enthusiasm for this program has been high; from January 1, 2021 through October 1, 2021, over 10,000 people registered for PCS!