Evanston’s groundbreaking reparations plan was stumbling. A brother and sister pushed it forward. – Evanston Review*

When apartment-dwellers Kenneth Wideman and Shelia Wideman, 75, were picked as two of the first 16 Evanstonians to each receive $25,000 housing allowances, they were unable to accept the payment. Instead, a committee of residents and council members voted in March to push the program in a direction its sharpest critics had always wanted: They carved out a fourth option to existing rules, allowing the Widemans and 600-plus other waiting applicants to receive a direct cash payment to be used toward rent or other housing expenses.