In 1969, after the federal Fair Housing Act prohibited housing discrimination based on race, Evanston city officials passed local fair housing ordinances. That year, the city set out to create the country’s first reparations program to atone for its history of racial discrimination. She decided to apply to the reparations program when it began offering checks last year. At first, Evanston’s reparations program offered recipients only in-kind financial assistance, which could be used toward mortgage payments, a down payment for a house, or home improvement projects. Robin Rue Simmons said the reparations program had to be created from the ground up.

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Persons: — Kenneth Wideman, Jim Crow, Wideman, Ward, ”, “, Kenneth Wideman, Arthur Butler, Isabella Garnett, ” Wideman, ” Ron Butler, Michela Moscufo, NBC News Ron Butler, didn’t, Ron Butler, Cheryl, Butler, ” “, ” Cherylette Hilton, NBC News Cherylette Hilton, Cherylette Hilton, Hilton, hadn’t, Robin Rue Simmons, Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, Simmons, Neal Peirce Organizations: Ward, NBC News, NBC, Blacks, Evanston Hospital, St, Francis Hospital, Northwestern University, Army, NBC News Cherylette, Ku Klux, NBC News Former, Neal Peirce Foundation Locations: EVANSTON, Ill, Evanston, South Carolina, Black, ”, “, Kenneth Wideman’s, City, Evanston , Illinois, Nebraska, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Georgia, Waynesboro