Expunge.io

Expunge.io-ScreenshotExpunge.io is a website designed for people with juvenile records in Illinois to kick of the process of expunging, or erasing, those records. It is a youth-led project run by Smart Chicago and controlled by the Mikva Challenge Juvenile Justice Council.

This project grew naturally out of our work together in our CivicSummer program. We interacted with youth on the Juvenile Justice Council (JJC) about what interested them, where their research took them, and what issues mattered most to them. Here's what we had to say on project launch. Cathy Deng is the developer who made this happen.

Our current work revolves around continuing the work of Expunge.io by working with a number of key partners, including Mikva Challenge Juvenile Justice Council, LAF, Illinois Legal Aid Online, Cabrini Green Legal Aid, and others, to increase public awareness, support the work of institutions, and document the juvenile expungement application process.

We are also conducting focus groups and talking to youth about the current Expunge.io site so it can optimized to their needs in association with this grant from the Knight Foundation given to Chris Rudd and Mikva Challenge to "update expunge.io with new design and new features that will make the web-app more appealing and effective for its users." 

Recent news about Expunge.io

Kyla Williams Co-Presents Today at Philanthropy Ohio’s Annual Conference

Today, Leon Wilson, CIO of the Cleveland Foundation, and I will co-present at the Philanthropy Ohio’s annual conference with a theme

SMART CHICAGO IS MOVING!!!

Good News!!! The Smart Chicago team is moving and now will be co-located with the City Digital Team at UI

Expunge Design Day at Stanford d School

On Saturday, November 7, I visited Stanford University’s dSchool to participate in Expunge Design Day to “work with young people in the Bay

New Expunge.io Video

We recently worked with the Mikva Challenge Juvenile Justice Council to create a video about Expunge.io and why expungement matters.  We did

Suzy Connor Joins Smart Chicago as Consultant Focusing on Arts, Justice, and Education

Yesterday marked the start of Suzy Connor’s work here at Smart Chicago. We’ve worked with Suzy over the last couple years

2015 Year in Review

This was a big year for community technology in Chicago. Here’s a month-by-month look at some of the things Smart

On Open Data + Mass Joy at the Personal Democracy Forum

Last week I spoke at the Personal Democracy Forum about the Jackie Robinson West Little League baseball team, open data,
Mikva Challenge JJC

Expunge.io Youth-Led Design Session

On Saturday, May 2, I was invited to the Mikva Challenge offices to lead a design session on Expunge.io with

Fingerprint Terminal at Cook County Juvenile Center

As part of our continued work in connection with our Expunge.io product, we secured a fingerprint terminal to be stationed at the

Legal Assistance Foundation’s Camille Taylor explains Juvenile Expungement

As part of our work with Expunge.io, we rely on the expertise of the LAF. For over 40 years, LAF (formerly

CUTGroup in 2015

Last year was a time of great growth and documentation for our Civic User Testing Group project. We completed six tests on

2014 Year in Review

Here’s a month-by-month look at some of the things we’ve done this year.
#CivicSummer 2014 Badge

Focus on ecosystem: #CivicSummer

This article focuses on the long planning and deep youth-led tech work that preceded the creation of Expunge.io
Expunge.io

Smart Chicago, Expunge.io, and Ecosystem

This is one in a series of posts that help us at Smart Chicago to develop a cohesive product strategy that
Expunge.io-Screenshot

Continuing the Work of Expunge.io

Smart Chicago was recently awarded a grant from The Chicago Community Trust to support Expunge.io. This grant, referred to as “Expunge.io

CUTGroup #11 – Expunge.io

Smart Chicago conducted our eleventh Civic User Testing Group (CUTGroup) test as part of our current work around this grant from the

Team

Sonja Marziano manages this project for Smart Chicago. Cathy Deng is the lead developer.  All of this work happens with the coordination and efforts from all of our partners listed below.

Partners

Mikva Challenge

Mikva Challenge was founded on the premise that youth voice and participation matter, and that our civic and political life ...

LAF

LAF (formerly the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago) provides free legal services in non-criminal matters to people living in ...

Cabrini Green Legal Aid

Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA) provides both criminal and civil legal services, integrated with social work support, to individuals facing barriers stemming ...

We also work with staff at the Cook County Juvenile Center to create more efficient juvenile expungement processes in conjunction with the Juvenile Expungement Help Desk, staffed by LAF and CGLA.