Racial Equity

Racial inequity is the foundational problem in Evanston — and in the United States. This scourge has presented itself in evolving ways over the centuries, but many of its consequences have been consistent: massive racial gaps in wealth, health, education, access to housing, liberty, and more.

For a number of decades now, most government policies in America have been formally race-neutral. Gone are the days of government enforcement of residential or school segregation, voter disenfranchisement based upon race, and so on. As a result, some people suggest that remaining racial inequities are a result of racist views harbored by individuals — and therefore that there’s no role government can play in reversing them.

This is wrong.

First of all, the legacy of government participation in institutional racism has created the massive wealth gaps and residential segregation that we see today — and thus government has a responsibility to fix these problems. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, many of our nominally race-blind policies are in fact viciously racist as applied in practice, as is apparent in critical areas such as policing, housing, education, and more.

Consequently, it is our moral and practical responsibility to infuse every arm of Evanston government with the values and habits of anti-racism. We can begin this process by:

• In partnership with nationally recognized practitioners, designing a city-wide engagement process to determine the community’s definitions and goals regarding equity, and then implementing a training program and assessment tool to ensure that all governmental actions and decisions are made through a racial equity lens.
  • This process will be designed with the understanding that a comprehensive reckoning with white supremacy will generate significant resistance, and that this resistance cannot be allowed to derail the work.
• Remaking and strengthening the Equity and Empowerment Commission.
  • The commission shall participate in the design of the community engagement process and oversee the implementation and modification of the ensuing assessment tool.
  • The commission shall designate a member who will:
    • Represent the commission at any city meeting where key decisions are being made.
    • Have the authority to speak and ask questions at any such meeting, whether or not they have voting power.
• Designating a staff member with certified equity training to devote at least half of their job to advancing equity, and designating a person in each department to implement the equity plan and liaise with the Equity and Empowerment Commission.
• Prioritizing language access and translating more materials in a timely fashion.
• Recommitting to and expanding the City’s reparations program.
  • The mayor shall act as a vocal proponent of the program, signaling its importance to the entirety of city staff, and acting as an ambassador to community members who may not yet be supportive.
  • The City shall advocate with Evanston institutions, including but not limited to Northwestern University, hospitals, and financial institutions, to contribute to the Reparations Fund in proportion to their historic advancement of structural racism in Evanston.

Increase Public Input and Meaningful Government Response

Democracy cannot work without a functional feedback loop between residents and their government: people must be able to give input, be heard, and see that government is reacting appropriately.

Evanstonians have several tools to share their views with city elected officials and staff. For instance, as required by state law, there is an opportunity to give public comment at each city meeting, and there are numerous boards and commissions made up mostly of volunteer experts to guide the city’s policymaking process. Unfortunately, these systems are not working well enough.

In their own way, each has left residents feeling unheard, in some cases creating toxic relationships that harm our community. To solve this problem, the city must overhaul the mechanism by which it solicits public input, by:

• Institutionalizing a system of public written response to points and requests made at public comment.
• Working with other government bodies in Evanston, including District 65, to ensure that their boards do not meet simultaneously.
• Requiring all board applicants to have gone through one of an approved list of equity trainings within six months of joining the board.
• Building on work that has already been done in partnership with the League of Women Voters, streamlining the structure of boards & commissions to save staff time and money and ensure that each committee’s work is taken seriously and has a meaningful effect on city government.
• Establishing a lobbyist registration system to track communications between lobbyists and elected officials.
• Prohibiting individuals regulated by a board or commission from serving on that board or commission.
• Establishing and implementing a transparent and responsive process that prioritizes diversity for filling open board and commission positions.
• Designing mechanisms to receive public input that are accessible to all, regardless of financial circumstances.
  • Provide childcare options for participants in public input processes
  • Explore the possibility of obtaining grant funding to offer compensation for community groups to lead aspects of the outreach for public input, as well as for individuals who are involved

Data and Government Transparency

The operation of city government creates a treasure trove of data, and if made public in genuinely accessible ways, this data can have a number of uses. First of all, it empowers residents to hold government accountable. Second, it informs residents about basic opportunities and services made available by the City. Finally, it enables residents to be partners with the City in developing new ideas and tools to improve the quality of services our government provides.

To fully realize the vision, the City must take significant steps to open our data, including:

• Creating a public database of all FOIA requests and subsequent responses, with some redactions as appropriate.
• Increasing opportunities to engage and inform citizens by publishing city data, such as:
  • Using the strategic plan to identify goals for each city department and track progress toward these goals online for residents to monitor.
  • Making public a database of aggregate data about city staff by department and compensation, with metrics that hold significance to our community, including race.
  • Creating a map of TIFs and TIF-related information.
  • Creating a police accountability database that includes complaints made and disciplinary action taken.

Fair and Accessible Elections

In a democracy, the foundation of a responsive government lies in our election system. For the system to work well, every potential candidate must have the opportunity to run and, to the extent possible, to share their qualifications with the electorate. Unfortunately, the polluting influence of money and Illinois’s convoluted and machine-friendly ballot access system are harming the openness of our elections. To repair this, Evanston must:

• Create a clean elections system by instituting a small donor matching program like New York City and many other jurisdictions have already enacted.
  • Begin with mayoral elections, where candidates’ access to big money has historically made the most obvious difference in Evanston
  • If the program works well and is deemed affordable and necessary for other offices, expand to aldermanic and clerk campaigns
• Improve the ballot access system to ensure all residents have equal capability of running by:
  • Advocating with the General Assembly to abolish local electoral boards and instead allow the county clerk to adjudicate petition challenges.
  • While the local electoral board still exists, establishing clear and permissive guidelines that focus on substantive qualifications, not technicalities.
  • Working with the city clerk to ensure that candidates have access to all the information and tools they need to file the proper paperwork.