OUR HISTORY

The National Organization of Healing Communities USA (HCUSA) began in 2008 as an outreach of the Anne E. Casey Foundation to empower faith communities to support returning citizens, crime victims, families, and communities affected by crime and mass incarceration. HCUSA moved under the fiscal sponsorship of the Philadelphia Leadership Foundation (PLF) in 2011. The PA Chapter (originally the Philadelphia Chapter) was formed in 2010, expanded into criminal justice advocacy in 2012, and became the statewide chapter in 2017. 

The PA Chapter of HCUSA PA reconstituted as Healing Communities PA (HCPA) and became sponsored by PLF in 2019. The HCPA Faith Action Network was formed in early 2020 as an advocacy movement-building arm of HCPA. That same year, in partnership with the Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia, Inc. Restorative Cities Initiative, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, and the First Judicial District of PA, we began a restorative justice pilot resolving felony cases for BIPOC individuals charged during the 2020 summer protests. That pilot continues to expand towards a goal of at least 1000 case resolutions a year, as well as preventing retaliation and resolving conflict in the community before system involvement. 

HCPA recently formed an advisory board and welcomed individuals such as Dr. Movita Johnson-Harrell, Dr. Naomi Washington Leapheart, Dr. Jeff Abramowitz, Hannah Zellman, and others to the HCPA family, the purpose being to move to more sustainability and be more reflective of our mission statement. In 2022, HCPA opened The People's Center for Healing Justice in partnership with MCCP, Inc. and The People's Baptist Church in Southwest Philadelphia. In 2023, in partnership with All Voting Is Local and other community stakeholders, we launched Justice Involved Voter Engagement (JIVE) to increase access to the ballot box for all justice-involved citizens in PA.  We currently partner with HRC, CADBI, KDB, Straight Ahead, ACLU PA, ACTUP Philly, Mothers in Charge, 1st Episcopal District of the AME Church, PA Baptist State Convention, Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, POWER, MCCP, FAMM, Redemption Housing, Spiritual Resiliency Council, etc. building capacity on justice transformation campaigns.