Arch City Defenders Inc

Advocacy: this program focuses on elevating the voices of clients who have been impacted by systemic oppression by speaking about their experiences while exposing injustice and misrepresentation. Advocacy involves hosting events for the community, creating handouts and references for the community as well as co-hosting a podcast that explores the issues facing the community and the people working to transform them. The organization also collaborates with organizers, activists, and other advocacy partners on local events, initiatives, and campaigns to build community power in furtherance of a commitment to racial justice, human dignity, and liberation in st. Louis and beyond... Archcity defenders is part of a campaign to shut down the st. Louis city's medium security institution (the "workhouse") that condemns hundreds of presumptively innocent people to suffer in unspeakably hellish and inhumane conditions.

Direct representaton civil: archcity defenders provides free legal services to clients with matters like landlord-tenant disputes and eviction defense, consumer protection cases, divorce, custody and visitation rights, public benefits applications and appeals, immigration bond proceedings and assistance with elder law issues like wills, powers of attorney, guardianships, and conservatorships. We integrate civil and criminal legal representation to alleviate the collateral consequences that occur when an individual enters the criminal legal system.

Direct representation criminal & municiple: archcity defenders provides free legal services to individuals in various backgrounds in several different types of cases from criminal and municipal cases. Archcity defenders assists clients with both misdemeanor and felony level criminal cases and seeks to supplement and not duplicate services provided by the missouri state public defender system. In the past year, combined with direct represenation civil program, staff attorneys made over 586 court appearances in municipal court. Archcity defenders represented individual clients in 611 municipal, criminal, landlord-tenant, consumer, probate, and family matters. Archcity defenders also secured 366 case dismissals for 82 clients.

Social services: taking a client-led approach, archcity defenders honors clients' self-determination while helping to counter the setbacks caused by discrimination, exploitation, and criminalization. Social services provides trauma-informed case management, access to technology, public benefits and transportation assistance, outside referrals, and jobs, housing, and education support. Archcity defenders provided assistance to 1,129 people after the july 2022 flood disaster, delivered groceries to 89 individuals, and helped 17 people obtain furniture and other household items.