From the City of Evanston

Greetings,

In Evanston we’re proud of our trailblazing reparations initiative, but we also know that the first steps in a long complex journey require careful analysis, reflection, and, potentially, adjustment. That’s why I’m so pleased to let you know about the launch of a thorough and scholarly research project that will assess our program.

man sits on panel
Mayor Daniel Biss. Credit: Gina Castro

The City of Evanston and Northwestern University, in partnership with the nonpartisan and objective research organization NORC at the University of Chicago, are conducting a survey that aims to understand how Evanston residents feel about the reparations program that was put into place by our City in 2021. All Evanston residents 18 years old or older are encouraged to take the survey. I hope you’ll do so and ask others in your network to follow suit.

Survey responses will give policymakers in Evanston and beyond feedback from a broad, representative sample of community members regarding the City’s Local Reparations Program. Your input could help shape the future of reparations, both locally and nationally. 

In the next several weeks, you may also receive a postcard in the mail inviting you to take the survey. If you receive one of these postcards and have not yet completed the survey online, I would ask that you or someone in your household age 18 years or older will take the time (about 10 minutes or so) to complete it.

What is NORC?

NORC at the University of Chicago (formerly the National Opinion Research Center) is helping the City of Evanston and Northwestern University with this survey. NORC is an objective non-partisan research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide critical programmatic, business, and policy decisions.

What if I have questions about the study?

Please contact Prof. Alvin Tillery, Director of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy at Northwestern University, at Alvin.Tillery@northwestern.edu.

Thank you for reading and for taking the time to provide your input on Evanston’s Local Reparations Program.

Sincerely,

Daniel Biss
Mayor, City of Evanston

dbiss@cityofevanston.org

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  1. I’m not sure where to report this, so I’m commenting here. There is a bug in the Mayor’s survey and I can only get about halfway through before the survey just gives me a blank white screen and no option to continue! They might want to fix that.

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