The Evanston City Council, after spending weeks of budget negotiations this year finding services to cut, decided to significantly increase funding to one program.
The council voted unanimously to give the Mason Park Field House project $79,000 for staffing and programming in the coming year.
“We’re grateful to the city in a difficult financial time that they were willing to invest in the youth and Mason Park,” said Jessica Clarke, a member of the Mason Park Neighborhood Association. “It’s critical that the city and the community partner together to make the field house a success.”
The funding grant was largely due to the efforts of the neighborhood association, which has been lobbying the council for funding for months.
While the group asked for $108,000 in a proposal to the city, no funding was originally included in City Manager Julia Carroll’s proposed budget in December, and proposals as recently as last Friday gave the project fewer than $30,000.
The association’s members see the building as a place for kids to spend time participating in positive activities, such as games, arts and crafts, and doing homework – both after school and during the summer. The funding ensures the building is open and staffed by chaperones. Funding also will be used for equipment such as a flat-screen television and computers with high-speed internet.
“My hope for the field house is it will be a place where youth feel safe and feel that they can go for all kinds of purposes – entertainment, enrichment programs and activities,” said neighborhood association member Paula Ketcham, who spoke at the hearing Saturday. “I hope that it will be a vital part of our community.”
Supporters of the project also have argued that utilizing the building would decrease crime.
“If you don’t give kids somewhere to participate in activities, they’re going to spend their time in other ways,” said Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd), an advocate of the program. “And those ways might not necessarily be within the law.”
Clarke, one of seven members of the Working Group, which drafted the Mason Park group’s proposal, cited Jean-Baptiste’s leadership as a key reason why the council voted to fund the program, in addition to large community support and the “persistence” of the association.
In addition to writing a funding proposal, the group attended many budget meetings and on Saturday submitted to the council an online petition with more than 250 signatures on it.
The field house already has been open for after-school use since January, Parks and Recreation Director Douglas Gaynor said. The building is open Monday to Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., but turnout has been sparse, he said.
Mason Park Neighborhood Association members argued this was not a reason to under-fund the facility, because the low turnout was due to poor city advertising. On Feb. 14, they offered a survey of 40 middle schoolers to prove their point.
In the survey, none of the children reported knowing the city had opened the field house for after-school use. More than 25 of the kids said they were looking for things to do after school.
The funding should be able to provide just that, said neighborhood association members. Members added that they will seek private funding sources and volunteers to supplement the council’s allotment.
“Of course we would’ve liked the full $100,000, but I guess $79,000 is a good start,” said Elizabeth Peterson, who lives across the street from the park.
Clarke said the project still had a long way to go, but the funding grant was an important step in the process.
“It’s a substantial amount of money and it’s an important victory,” she said.
