Evanston reparations program pays $25,000 each to 44 Black residents

city Evanston, Illinois The Compensation Commission issued $25,000 to 44 residents earlier this month in reparation payments, and is currently looking at other ways to keep the program funded.

Committee members were reportedly mentioned earlier Discuss revenue shortfalls From their cannabis tax source, due to declining sales at the two dispensaries in the city. “When you tax something at a high rate, customers are less likely to buy that product and are more likely to identify alternatives,” Tiffany Ingram, executive director of the Illinois Cannabis Business Association, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“That’s why you see customers going to other places like Michigan or Missouri, if they’re close to the border, buying products on the illicit market or buying alternatives like unregulated Delta 8,” she said.

According to the city’s resolution, Evanston has committed the city’s first $10 million of the city’s cannabis retailers occupation tax — a 3% tax on gross cannabis sales. Hemp – To finance the program.

Evanston will issue $25,000 to 44 residents in restitution, the city’s Compensation Commission announced Thursday. (Getty Images)

“We’re always excited to see the ways in which municipalities define how they want to use cannabis revenue to improve their communities. So it was certainly — I think — that Evanston was the first,” Ingram told Fox News Digital.

Another way to fund the program is through the city’s real estate transfer tax ordinance. According to a city memorandumthe Fund received $276,588 from the Evanston real estate transfer tax.

The fund was primarily supported by cannabis sales tax and property tax money, which is where it was No charitable donations This year as of January 31, I got… $1,010 last year. Moreover the city It reported $55,956.22 In donations to the Compensation Fund as of September 2024.

Evanston was the first city in the country to do so Pass a compensation planpledged $10 million over a decade to Black residents in November 2019. Established in 2019 and approved by the City Council in 2021, the program issues $25,000 direct cash payments to Black residents and descendants of Black residents who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969.

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Richie Greenberg, one of the plaintiffs who sued the city of San Francisco over its compensation fund, claimed the measure is divisive because it only favors black residents. (Getty Images)

As Committee members are examining other sources of revenue generation, Members discussed on February 6 Municipal tax on Delta 8 products. Alderman Chrissie Harris recognized that the tax would not significantly increase revenue, although it would “help continue to push that number forward” in the reparations process. Daily Northwestern I mentioned.

“It’s really important for people to understand that we pay because we have the money, and it’s not that we’re not paying everyone,” Harris said. “All we have to do is pool the money to make sure we can pay.”

So far, 137 Evanston residents have done so They received compensation payments Totaling $3.47 million, more is expected by the end of the year, reaching 171 beneficiaries with about $4 million set aside for direct descendants.

Evanston City Attorney Alexandria Ruggie wrote in a memo to the city The city has the capacity To tax Delta 8 products as an “internal unit of government.”

“The question has been raised as to whether the city might tax Delta 8 products in the city,” Ruggie said.

“In addition, Delta 8 products are generally very cheap, so any tax revenue generated by Delta 8 sales is likely to be relatively small, with little impact on the purchase of these products,” she wrote.

“Lawmakers and cannabis industry representatives have long maintained that unregulated THC products like Delta 8 can be more potent than regulated marijuana and therefore pose a risk to consumers,” she added.

Delta-8 THC products are sold in Evanston, but are not included in Illinois’ cannabis tax regulation law, Ruggie told the Daily Northwestern.

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Evanston’s compensation program is primarily funded by cannabis sales tax and property tax dollars, as there were no charitable donations this year as of Jan. 31. (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Ingram told Fox News Digital that taxing Delta-8 THC products is concerning, considering it is unregulated. “Delta-8 is essentially an unregulated intoxicant derived from cannabis,” she said. “We always say before we talk about taxing Delta-8, we have to talk about protecting consumers.”

The Illinois Cannabis Business Association sent Fox News Digital A letter I wrote To the Chair of the Licensing and Consumer Protection Commission, Debra Silverstein, to show her support for an ordinance prohibiting “the sale of hemp-derived cannabis products within the City of Chicago.”

In response to concerns from the Illinois Cannabis Business Association and the future of funding for the compensation program generally, a City of Evanston spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the city cannot comment “due to litigation.”

Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, told Fox News Digital earlier this month I filed a lawsuit v. Evanston, to prevent the city from paying reparations to black residents.

The $25,000 payments to Evanston residents are intended to cover housing expenses. The city is committed Focus on housing Because the issue is “the strongest argument for compensation.”

“There is sufficient evidence showing the City’s role in housing discrimination as a result of the City’s early zoning laws that were implemented between 1919 and 1969, when the City prohibited housing discrimination,” the city explained.

Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that it is filing a lawsuit against the city of Evanston to stop paying reparations to Black residents. (Getty Images)

Reparations can take many forms But it generally refers to payments or other compensation made to descendants of black Americans harmed by slavery or previous discriminatory government policies.

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In July 2019, the Evanston Equity and Empowerment Committee held community meetings to gather feedback from community members on what reparations would look like. In addition to housing, community members identified four other priorities including economic development, education, finance and “history/culture.”

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