Reparations nonprofit FirstRepair serves over 100 local communities, to open resource center in December

Reparations nonprofit FirstRepair serves over 100 local communities, to open resource center in December FirstRepair to open new resource center in December Skip to Content Anavi Prakash/The Daily Northwestern FirstRepair’s headquarters was wrapped in a mural in July. The mural celebrates Black excellence, according to FirstRepair founder Robin Rue Simmons. October 13, 2024 After former Ald. Robin Rue Simmons (5th) retired from City Council in 2021, she said people all over the country still came to her asking for guidance on how to set up reparations initiatives in their own communities.  Rue Simmons, who was a council member from 2017-21, led Evanston’s reparations program, which now provides Black residents who lived in Evanston from 1919 to 1969 and their direct descendants with grants of up to $25,000. Evanston’s reparations program became the first of its kind in the nation in 2021 and was challenged in court in May by a conservative activist and non-Black Evanston residents. In response to the requests from communities across the country, Rue Simmons founded FirstRepair, a nonprofit that aims to create tools and share practices that lead to sustainable local reparations policies. FirstRepair does this by leading workshops and conferences around the country and conducting...