The City of Evanston will soon begin supplementing funding for certain public services through private donations and fundraising.
“What these committees are looking at is leveraging smaller community-based resources to have a long-term impact,” Evanston development officer Davon Woodard said.
Aldermen voted last week to establish a foundation run by community members to provide supplemental funds to Evanston’s police and fire departments. Evanston will establish a second foundation to raise money for a new federally qualified health center, he said.
“We want to make Evanston the most livable city in America,” Woodard said.
The Evanston Police and Fire Foundation will serve as an avenue for residents who want to make donations to show their gratitude for being helped by these services, Ald. Jane Grover (7th) said.
“The city already gets periodic inquiries about private donations (from those) who are beneficiaries of services,” Grover said. “For example, paramedics will resuscitate them and in gratitude, they make a donation to benefit Fire and Life Safety personnel. There is no vehicle for those kinds of donations.”
The foundation will also raise money through various fundraisers such as police balls and luncheons, Woodard said. Money raised will go towards funding items on department “wish-lists” and upgraded equipment. Evanston fire department Chief Greg Klaiber said he hopes private donations will fund new thermal imaging cameras and new technology.
“We’re looking for the future, but can’t afford (this technology) right now,” Klaiber said. “There’s always a need for improved technology.”
Donations will also go towards paying for new T3s, Segway-like vehicles, for EPD, Woodard said.
Both departments have received donations in the past. Northwestern, for example, donated a $550,000 fire engine to the Evanston fire department in 2009.
When Evanston residents donated to pension funds last year, Evanston officials told The Daily that while donations are appreciated, no formal fundraising plan would be implemented. The city is currently facing a $175 million debt towards fire and police pensions, according to an actuary estimate last March.
Neither of the new foundations will raise money for pension funds, Woodard said.
Another foundation will raise money towards health services. Although Evanston has two hospitals, certain areas are medically under-served, Grover said. The Evanston Health Initiative Fundraising Committee will solicit donations to build a federally qualified health center to serve these areas, she said.
Evanston is waiting on a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to build the center, which will most likely be located in the Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave. The health center will offer family planning, case management, outpatient procedures and a dental clinic, Grover said.
Private donations are an untapped potential to pay for items not provided for in the city budget, Grover said.
“That’s not money the city would otherwise spend,” she said. “The city doesn’t have the money to spend it.”
Woodard said he has faith that residents will make donations even in this harsh economy.
“(Residents) will be more than happy to support the initiative because they’ll see the impact it will have in our community,” he said.
Community members will run these foundations as nonprofit organizations separate from government and with help from a fiscal agent to avoid corruption, Woodard said.
“With the added transparency of a fiscal agency or a foundation managing their own finances, we’ll remove that level of any image or sense of impropriety,” he said.
Woodard said he is still looking for community members to serve on the boards of these foundations. Residents who are interested in a position can contact him at (847) 448-8103 or e-mail him at [email protected].
