More than 50 members of the Evanston community traveled to Springfield on Wednesday for the Fifth Annual Evanston Day to present issues concerning the city to their elected state representatives.

“It’s our responsibility to meet with our legislature so they can represent us,” Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl said. “We met with all the people we wanted to. I think they’re listening to us.”

The group that went to Illinois’ capital included local officials, students from Northwestern and Evanston Township High School, representatives from local businesses and non-profit organizations and Evanston residents.

City manager Wally Bobkiewicz said the diversity of people who went to Springfield allowed for a broad range of problems to be brought to state officials so that they can be addressed on the state level.

“It helps to remind the leadership in Illinois about Evanston and the diverse community we are,” he said.

The delegation’s schedule included a luncheon at the Executive Mansion and meetings with Illinois General Assembly members and heads of state agencies. Bobkiewicz said the group focused its discussions with various officials on budgetary issues that Evanston faces. They addressed the balancing of state and city budgets to assure the local government received enough revenue to fund infrastructure projects and pensions for police and fire departments.

Residents like Gretchen Livingston attended Evanston Day to voice their concerns about other matters. Livingston has come to Springfield for the past five years to represent the ETHS school board, where she serves as president.

“We came to advocate for issues of public education … funding, principally,” she said. “It’s always a successful trip. We’re able to raise the profile of Evanston in the eyes of our legislature.”

This year, ETHS Superintendent Eric Witherspoon was a featured speaker at the group’s luncheon, where he facilitated a discussion about the partnership between NU and ETHS to foster science, technology, engineering and math education. Livingston said this was particularly beneficial for her cause, as it made Evanston public education a more prominent issue on the state legislature’s agenda.

Not all those who traveled to the capital were there to endorse Evanston initiatives. Four members of NU’s Associated Student Government accompanied the group in order to learn more about important issues outside of the contained NU and Evanston circles.

“We often focus on local stuff, and as a result, we overlook state issues,” said Kevin Harris, ASG’s community relations vice president. “We thought this was a great opportunity to meet our representatives and bond with the Evanston community.”

Many attendees, including Evanston resident Marilyn Danos, said they felt Evanston Day was a success and found their voices were heard. Danos said she was given the chance to be heard by state officials to express her own concerns, which included the need for more funding for mental health services in Evanston.

“It’s great for towns to have a program like this where they can come together and actually meet their legislature,” she said. “I would recommend it to anyone residing in Evanston.”

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