Remarks from Attorney General Loretta Lynch as Prepared for Delivery:
Good afternoon, everyone. I want to begin by thanking Kelvin Jeremiah of the Philadelphia Housing Authority for welcoming us to Raymond Rosen Manor and for his longstanding commitment to providing safe and affordable housing to thousands of Philadelphians. I want to salute one of our grantees, Community Legal Services, which works so hard to help Philadelphians with criminal histories to get back on the right track. Earlier today, CLS organized a tremendous roundtable for us. It was an invaluable opportunity to hear from men and women working to start over after becoming involved with the justice system and their stories offered a powerful reminder that even for those who have long been on the right track, a criminal history can make it enormously difficult to turn the page. I want to thank the men and women who participated in the roundtable and I commend their inspiring resilience. I also want to thank the many dedicated public servants who have joined us today – including U.S. Attorney [Zane] Memeger and his office for their outstanding efforts to improve reentry outcomes here in Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania’s Eastern District. And I want to thank Secretary [Julián] Castro for his invaluable partnership and his tireless dedication to our shared work of building stronger and safer communities for all.