Outside Group Offers $75,000 In Cash Payments For Black Residents

EVANSTON, IL — Ahead of a vote on the first money to be distributed from Evanston's historic local reparations program, a California-based group has offered $75,000 for cash payments to Black Evanston residents who qualify for the first stage of Evanston's initiative.

According to a description city staff provided to aldermen Friday evening, the program will provide up to 25 randomly selected qualifying Black families in Evanston with $300 a month for a 10-month period.

Sponsored by the Family Independence Initiative, the "Evanston Equitable Recovery Fund" initiative was revealed to aldermen shortly before Monday's scheduled City Council vote on the first $400,000 funding allocation to the city's Evanston Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program, which would provide cash assistance of up to $25,000 for at least 16 qualifying households.

The resolution before aldermen would approve an initial funds distributed by the city's first-of-its-kind local reparations program, which is financed by the first $10 million of municipal recreational cannabis sales tax revenue. (Since there is only one pot shop in Evanston and sales tax revenue is a confidential trade secret under state law, the amount of money currently in the fund cannot be publicly disclosed.)

The housing initiative aims to help address the harm caused by historical housing discrimination against the city's Black community and inaction by city officials. Funds from the program can be used for homeownership, housing improvements or mortgage assistance.

More local reparations programs are planned as the City Council replaces its Reparations Subcommittee with a permanent Reparations Committee in May, according to city officials. Priority areas for future initiatives include education, history, culture, economic development and finance.

The program has faced some opposition from a group called Evanston Rejects Racist Reparations, a local group that argues the housing assistance initiative is being rushed through and does not qualify as true reparations, and a Washington D.C.-based conservative law firm that has warned the program is unconstitutional.

Some of those who argue the housing initiative is insufficient have advocated for direct cash payments to allow Black residents to determine how best to spend the money.

City staff have pointed out that any money distributed directly to residents from the Reparations Fund would be subject to federal income tax, so they would not receive as much money as if it had been distributed through financial institutions.

The primary funder of the Equitable Recovery Fund pilot program, The Family Independence Initiative, was founded in 2001 and incorporated in California as a nonprofit public benefit corporation in 2006 with the goal of shifting narratives about low-income families in the United States, according to its most recent available financial report.

Based in Oakland and, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, also leasing offices in San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Cincinnati and Albuquerque, the group provides participating families with a technology platform and infrastructure to reinforce social networks and access resources, it said.

At the end of 2019, the organization had nearly $13 million in assets, with 72 percent of its total contributions and grants coming from four donors, according to the report.

Economic Security for Illinois contributed $5,000 toward the initiative's program, a spokesperson for the Chicago-based nonprofit told Patch Monday.

"Whenever a local government puts unrestricted cash directly in the hands of residents who need it most, that's progress," Director Harish Patel said in a statement released by the group. "So we are proud to partner with Evanston in its efforts to bring cash to people."

Family Independence Initiative officials later said the group provided 100 percent of the funding for the program.

According to descriptions of the program provided to the City Council Friday evening, 25 people will be randomly selected via lottery to receive the monthly cash payments from April to December.

Eligibility requirements for the initiative's Evanston fund mirror those for the city's program.

To qualify, Evanston residents must identify as Black and/or African American and be able to trace their ancestry to a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who lived in Evanston between 1919 — the year a zoning ordinance targeted the city's Black community — and 1969 — the year the city passed a fair housing ordinance.

The payments will be made through the corporation's online platform, called UpTogether. The group told potential applicants that it "cannot determine if receiving cash offers from UpTogether will impact your public benefits."

Family Independence Initiative representatives and City Manager Erika Storlie did not respond to requests for comment ahead of Monday's City Council meeting.

The group's cash payment plan was not discussed at the more than 15 public meetings of the Reparations Subcommittee. Of the three aldermen on the subcommittee, one is in the middle of a re-election campaign and the other two will be leaving office in May. Patch asked all three when they first learned of the initiative. Any responses will be added here.

Ald. Cicely Fleming, 9th Ward, said she learned of the program for the first time Friday evening.

"While open to Evanston residents, this initiative is neither city funded or operated," Fleming said in a statement. "In hearing from many people regarding the first allocation of the Reparations fund, it's clear that this type of program is what people had in mind. Many studies have shown that direct cash payments are proven to be the best way to end the cycle of poverty and I applaud [the Family Independence Initiative's] efforts to respect an individual's ability to make the best decisions on how to spend their money."

The Evanston Equitable Recovery Fund is the second guaranteed income pilot program for Evanston residents to be announced in two weeks.

On March 8, representatives of the city and Northwestern University announced on March 8 that $300,000 would set aside as "seed money" for a guaranteed income pilot program, as part of the tax-exempt elite private school's annual payment to a discretionary fund controlled by the mayor and university president.

Plans for the sixth annual $1 million payment — rebranded last year from the Good Neighbor Fund to the Good Neighbor Racial Equity Fund — were announced five months later than in the previous allocations, leaving an approximately $500,000 hole in the city's budget — the same size as last year's property tax hike.

Eligibility requirements for the Northwestern-funded universal basic income pilot program have not been announced. According to city and university officials, more details will be "forthcoming as programs are established and implemented."

UPDATE: First Evanston Reparations Fund Initiative: $25K Housing Grants