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Evanston Illinois

Robin Rue Simmons.

Reparations rally promotes more funding

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

By Bill Smith, Evanston Now — About 100 people gathered online Thursday evening to hear presentations supporting Evanston’s reparation program and calls for more funding for it. Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, 5th Ward, who heads the City Council’s reparations subcomittee, told the town hall meeting she’s seeking support from anyone interested in the program, including family foundations, major donors, institutions and individuals. Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, the third member…

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Ta-Nehisi Coates and Danny Glover

One city’s reparations program that could offer a blueprint for the nation

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

Evanston, Illinois, is levying a tax on newly legalised marijuana to fund projects benefiting African Americans in recognition of the enduring effects of slavery and the war on drugs By Eric Lutz, The Guardian — For years, Robin Rue Simmons watched Evanston, Illinois, “working hard” to resolve its racial disparities – but with little to show for its efforts. “Our gaps were widening,” the city alderman told the Guardian, citing the Chicago suburb’s…

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Rev. Amos Brown

San Francisco needs to establish a reparations fund

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Rev. Amos Brown, SF Chronicle — For the city’s black community, it is long past time for San Francisco to prove it’s “the city that knows how” — to prove it knows how to make amends for its historic injustices to that community. As we mark the celebration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is time for San Francisco to establish a reparations…

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Robin Rue Simmons

Evanston outlines plan for reparations

By Reparations

By Emma Edmund, The Daily Northwestern — Evanston has released an outline for creating and implementing a reparations plan, including a plan to possibly redistribute the funds in early 2021. City Council’s reparations subcommittee will expand this year to include additional experts and members of the community, according to a recent news release. Currently, Ald. Robin Rue Simmons (5th) and Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) are in the subcommittee. The subcommittee…

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A chart accompanying Dec. 19 Evanston city press release on reparations.

City plans to restructure reparations panel

By Reparations

By Bill Smith, Evanston Now — After three months in which the Evanston City Council’s three-member reparations subcommittee held not a single public meeting, on Dec. 19, 2019 the city issued a press release announcing a schedule for a reformulated subcommittee to develop a reparations plan for submission to the City Council next year. At various times this fall members of the subcommittee that was appointed on Sept. 9 — Aldermen Robin Rue…

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Robin Rue Simmons

Aldermen establish historic fund for local reparations in Evanston, Illinois

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By The Daily Northwestern — Evanston City Council passed a historic resolution Monday to establish a $10 million fund for local reparations, including revenue from the recreational cannabis retailers tax. Starting on Jan. 1, 2020, all of the city’s recreational cannabis retailers tax will be transferred to the reparations fund until the fund has reached $10 million in revenue from this source. The reparations subcommittee is currently discussing how money…

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Robin Rue Simmons

As Evanston’s black population continues to drop, city officials will study reparations initiatives

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Jennifer Fisher, Chicago Tribune — Over the last two decades, the black population of Evanston has been shrinking. In 2000, 22.5% of residents identified themselves as black, according to U.S. Census data. The percentage declined to 18.1% in the 2010 Census. The number has continued to fall to an estimated 16.9% in 2017, per the latest American Community Survey estimate. “Black residents are moving because of lack of affordability…

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