Evanston To Announce First 16 Recipients Eligible For Grants From Reparations Program

EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- The first recipients of Evanston's reparations program will be announced Thursday.

A total of 16 names will be selected and will be eligible for grants of up to $25,000.

The funds are expected to be used for home ownership or home repairs.

In November 2019, the Evanston City Council approved a measure to direct the first $10 million in tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales to a reparations fund after recreational marijuana was legalized in Illinois effective Jan. 1, 2020.

The program gives reparations to Black residents, or their descendants, who were victims of housing discrimination.

Across Evanston, there has been a push to right the wrong done by the city. Several decades ago, African Americans were redlined to a section of Evanston corresponding roughly to the present day 5th Ward, south of the North Shore Channel and primarily west of Green Bay Road and north of Church Street.

The goal of the program is to address Evanston's decline in Black residents and help African Americans thrive in Evanston, among other issues.