A new state-funded initiative called New Leaf Illinois aims to connect Illinoisans who want to remove marijuana arrests or convictions from their records with 20 nonprofit organizations that provide free legal representation and information on expungements.
New Leaf Illinois was launched Thursday by the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation (IEJF), an organization created by a 1999 state law to distribute funding appropriated by the government to support nonprofit legal aid programs and initiatives. IEJF administers state appropriations to three programs—a broad legal aid grant program, a legal aid service for veterans and, most recently, a marijuana offense expungement program.