Josh Hilgart was born and raised in Kalamazoo and formerly led the Kalamazoo Defender as its founder and Executive Director. He holds a BA from Shimer College and a JD from Michigan State University College of Law. Josh has been pulling for the neglected, marginalized and oppressed throughout his professional life, in both Washington, DC and here in Kalamazoo.

While in Washington, Josh held pivotal roles in the coalition working on voting rights and voter protection, helping develop the Election Protection program while employed by the progressive People For the American Way. He also helped develop public resources on federal judicial nominees under consideration by the U.S. Senate, some used within the U.S. Senate’s confirmation hearings. While at People For the American Way, Josh was recruited by the U.S. office for the international Friends of the Earth—the world’s largest environmental network—where he subsequently organized campaigns on federal climate legislation, trained delegates to climate negotiations, boosted fundraising, and helped the broader global network build out their strategic plan.

After returning to Kalamazoo with his wife, Heather Hilgart, Josh took a position with Legal Aid of Western Michigan, representing impoverished individuals facing eviction, spousal abuse, collection agencies, denial of benefits, and other legal issues that disproportionately affect the poor. By providing direct legal services to the under-served, Josh came to understand the life of poverty and trauma much better than his prior work could convey. Our systems were failing to serve those for whom they were built and, in many cases, imposing further trauma and shame upon those already overloaded by those burdens. Those lessons were at the forefront of Josh’s mind when the State of Michigan agreed to put new resources into indigent criminal defense, and Kalamazoo County decided to channel those resources into a non-profit delivery model for those services.

In 2018, Josh began organizing a coalition of experts and activists to create just such a non-profit that could not only deliver the most organized, high-quality public defense services in the state, but with wraparound services provided by local organizations with years of experience working with the very same populations. Kalamazoo Defender has subsequently become an example of how indigent defense models can organize themselves for the best returns for their clients.

Josh and Heather live in the City of Kalamazoo with their dog, cat, and three chickens.