As part of a citywide anti-poverty initiative, the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey is offering residents the opportunity to clear their criminal records for free.

For the next several months, the organization will help host more than 30 record-clearing clinics staffed with lawyers from the Defender Association of Philadelphia, Community Legal Services, and Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity.

The hope is that these clinics will put thousands of people in a better position to succeed in life. Criminal records can be a barrier to employment, but also to securing housing or a college or vocational degree.

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Some 350,000 Philadelphians have arrest and conviction records that pose obstacles, according to the United Way.

“This is just a mathematics game. If you increase the number of clinics, and you spread them around the city in an equitable way. In theory it should provide equal access to individuals,” said Michael Banks, executive director of The Promise, a multifaceted effort launched by the United Way and the city to try to lift 100,000 people out of poverty. Roughly 400,000 Philadelphians live below the poverty line.

At each clinic, lawyers will walk participants through their public records and discuss what offenses are eligible for clearing and when. For example, Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law automatically seals non-convictions, summary offenses, and most nonviolent misdemeanors, including drunk driving, shoplifting, and...

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