Columbus gets $500,000 to help residents seal criminal records
The Columbus City Council is often on the side of giving government grants to private organizations. Monday, it was on the receiving end of a $500,000 private grant to help residents work through the process of sealing criminal records.
The grant from the Alliance for the American Dream, a competitive grant program founded by Schmidt Futures, will be used to fund Opportunity Port, an online portal that will provide applicants with access to legal expertise to guide them through the process of sealing certain records.
There are potentially hundreds of thousands of people just in Franklin County who potentially could qualify to have court cases sealed, a process that we know is cumbersome to many in our community, said Councilman Rob Dorans.