The City of Evanston Friday night announced that seven of the 20 proposals on the participatory budgeting ballot won the competition for $3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.
The PB scheme was set in motion by a City Council vote in March 2022.
Here’s the vote count for each of the winning proposals:
Rank Title Votes Funding 1 Mental health first aid training 3,400 $50,000 2 Grants to support marginalized students in grades 3-12 3,117 $700,000 3 Evanston urban farm 3,014 $350,000 4 Affordable housing subsidy 2,918 $810,000 5 Affordable refugee housing 2,890 $645,000 6 Youth and young adult drop-in center 2,692 $210,000 7 Small business grants 2,095 $150,000 Total $2,915,000 Remainder for PB Leadership Committee to allocate $85,000
In a news release, the city said 6,565 votes were cast in the participatory budgeting balloting that ran through the month of September.
That compares to 10,671 ballots cast in the February 2021 mayoral election in Evanston.
Persons 14 years and older who either live in or claim some other connection to Evanston were eligible to vote in the participatory budgeting balloting.
City staff will be assigned to implement the winning programs.