September 21st is our first-ever fundraising event. It is an important evening, not just for us as an organization, but for what we hope is the beginning of broadening access to and an understanding of life history investigation. 

At the event, we'll be officially announcing two upcoming initiatives: the Baltimore Mitigation Training Series and Mentor-in-Residence Program. Each of these programs represents an important step for us in seeking to develop and promote best practices in life history investigation, increase the number of mitigation specialists equipped to take on cases, and provide defense teams across the country with a community of support that will help them improve outcomes for their clients. 

Being able to provide programming like this is why your support is so important to our work. Since its founding, ARC, Inc. has placed a significant emphasis on seeking out less traditional funding sources so that we are not limited to working directly on cases. Support from individuals, firms, companies, and other sources allows us to provide support and create lasting change in the broader defense community in addition to those we serve directly. 

Many of you know the work of mitigation specialists well, and I hope that you can take this opportunity to lend your support. Others of you may just be learning about what we do, and I hope that this evening will provide you with the chance to understand the critical importance of life history investigation and what we are doing to increase its impact. Whether you have known us from the beginning or are meeting us for the first time, I hope you will join us to celebrate a vision of a criminal justice system that is rooted in values of empathy, mercy, and equity - and to take a step closer to making that vision a reality.

Hope to see you there!
 - Liz