In 2008, Street Democracy was established as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with the purpose of providing access to a broad range of legal services to impoverished persons and communities.

Street Democracy began by providing direct legal services to the homeless and hungry at the soup kitchen in the basement of St. Leo’s Church Soup Kitchen in Detroit, Michigan. Our two-year self-assessment revealed that while we were providing quality representation for individuals, we were not creating an environment for significant systemic change. We could continue representing clients individually or we could use our time to create institutions that would provide sustainable opportunities for our clientele.

Our current projects, such as the establishment of a specialty jurisdiction court in Detroit for homeless persons, the creation of various legal self-help materials, the operation of a freedom of information portal, and community-owned enterprises, are intended to do just that, institutionalize the mechanisms of change.

The Board

  

Financials

  
From 2013 on, Street Democracy will put its financial statements online. We expect openness and transparency from government and nonprofit institutions and hold ourselves to that same standard.