NORRISTOWN – Montgomery County residents facing challenges related to job insecurity or seeking employment, training programs and vocational counseling or food relief can receive some assistance at two upcoming job and resource fairs sponsored by the county Office of Public Defender in Norristown and Pottstown.
“The event is a food drive, job fair, voter registration and community services event so that folks in Montgomery County can come together and be made aware of what services exist to help families who may be in need,” said Assistant Public Defender Gregory Nester.
“The job fair part is really exciting because right now with the economy being the way it is during the pandemic, we want to do anything we can to be able to connect people with jobs,” Nester added.
About two dozen employers are expected to be on hand during the two events.
The Norristown event will be held this Saturday, Sept. 18 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the county-owned parking lot at DeKalb and Airy streets, near the county courthouse.
The Pottstown event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 25 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Smith Family Plaza, 138 E. High St.
Nester and Assistant Public Defender Carol Sweeney, who serve as co-chief deputy public defenders, said both events will be held outside and will be held rain or shine.
Social distancing and mask wearing will be encouraged for both participants and community members and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Covid-19 recommended guidelines and protocols will be followed.
There are no fees associated with participation or attendance.
In addition to including local employers, organizers also reached out to organizations that offer social services related to challenges that come with job insecurity. While the central goal of the initiative is to assist county residents in finding employment, both events will bring together a wide range of important resources and organizations to share with the community.
“Especially in Norristown, following Ida, we understand that there’s going to be an increased need for housing support, food resources and other types of mental health supports to cope with and manage the trauma that they’ve experienced recently,” explained Alana M. Hook, chief of policy and social services for the office of the public defender, referring to residents who are still recovering from the impact of the recent storm.
Shelf-stable food will be available for anyone in need.
Public defenders will also be on hand to educate residents, who are eligible under the law, about opportunities to have their criminal records expunged and to assist them in getting those records cleared. Public defenders routinely hold clinics for clients the office has represented in court, to assist those clients in clearing records that may be holding them back from leading successful, productive lives.
“We will be taking their information and reviewing the situation to determine whether they are eligible for expungement and if so, we can move forward from there,” Sweeney said. “We get asked all kinds of legal questions and case concerns that some people have. We will have a lot of hats on this day.”
Minor convictions, unless expunged, can negatively affect job marketability, housing and rental availability, college enrollment and military applications, officials said. Some offenders might not have convictions but they have arrest records that are eligible to be expunged.
“Expungements are important because it helps people get their jobs and helps them move forward and put this behind them and it helps them even with housing in the future,” said Assistant Public Defender Erin Boyle.
The public defender’s office held similar events last year and officials said they received a positive response and distributed several thousand pounds of food to those in need.
Officials thanked the numerous county officials and agencies that are assisting with the events.
“It takes a group to put this on. None of this would be possible without Montgomery County support,” Nester said.
Organizations helping to sponsor the events include: Philabundance; the Pottstown YWCA; the NAACP chapters of Norristown and Pottstown; Unincarcerated Minds, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization; Montgomery County OIC; and local legal aid officials.
The public defender’s office represents without charge indigent persons under arrest or charged with an indictable offense. If an indigent person qualifies for representation, the lawyers defend the person at every stage of the proceedings.
In addition to handling criminal cases, public defenders also handle qualified clients in civil mental health proceedings, state parole hearings, county probation and parole violation hearings and other types of cases recommended by the Public Defender Act.
