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Evanston committee reports $2.9 million disbursed to direct descendants; $10 million funding commitments noted
Summary
The Evanston Reparations Committee reported an initial $2,892,000 disbursed to direct-descendant recipients, said committee leaders, and confirmed $10 million commitments each from recreational cannabis sales tax and a graduated real estate transfer tax. Officials said additional rounds would require further council action.
The Evanston Reparations Committee reported that $2,892,000 has been disbursed to direct-descendant recipients and that ancestor-recipient payments remain at $3,000,468, for a combined total of $6,368,600 in the program's first disbursements.
The committee's chair, Tashie Kerr, said the city's reparations fund currently includes $10,000,000 from recreational cannabis sales tax and $10,000,000 from a graduated real estate transfer tax, plus donations. "Right now, we have, as you know, $10,000,000 from recreational cannabis sales tax, $10,000,000 from the graduated real estate transfer tax, and then we have a, a donation, fund that makes up our reparations fund and commitment," Kerr said.
Dami Lola Olamaghi, the committee's reparations intern, provided the disbursement status during the meeting. Olamaghi said 26 direct descendants had been selected, 16 have been met with and received their benefits, and 10 recipients remain in progress. "In total, this resulted in 2,892,000 being disbursed to this group," Olamaghi said. She added that three recipients currently required additional documentation.
The committee emphasized that further rounds of disbursement or expansions of the program would require additional committee support and action by the City Council. "Anything further would take additional committee support and a council action as well," Kerr said when asked whether another application round or additional funds were committed.
Vanessa Johnson McCoy, speaking as part of a related stakeholders group, said the Reparation Stakeholders Authority of Evanston held a community engagement kickoff and that the interfaith community had donated funds for reparative purposes. "We have a lot of good info from the community about what to do with the million dollars that the interfaith primarily the interfaith community has given to the black Evanston community," Johnson McCoy said.
Committee members and staff encouraged residents to stay on the mailing list for future updates and to engage with the Reparation Stakeholders Authority, which the committee described as a separate body that can propose additional reparative ideas beyond what the city's legal framework allows. Kerr said the authority could offer ideas "in perpetuity" while the committee remains bound by the city's legal parameters.
No motions or votes were taken on new disbursements at the meeting; the committee recorded status updates and public comments and confirmed that committed funding to date is limited to the amounts described above.
