Surveys Developed by Dominican University Faculty for Oak Park Reparations Study

Surveys created by a group of Dominican University faculty members are expected to begin circulating this month as part of research for a reparative justice project spearheaded by an Oak Park citizens task force.

The surveys will gather input from Black Oak Park residents on what reparations look like to them and if they have experienced discrimination and racism in their community, said Jake Bucher, founding dean of Dominican University’s College of Applied Social Sciences.

The survey questions were developed based in part on a series of community focus groups hosted last month by Dominican and the Oak Park Reparations Task Force, a citizens group examining the possibility of a form of local reparations for Black residents.

Surveys will be distributed through email and social media groups, as well as in person, to as many of Oak Park’s approximately 9,600 Black residents as possible.

The research process will involve engagement from members of the Dominican community, including Bucher, Dr. Suhad Tabahi (Social Work), Dr. Tony Dunbar (Information Studies), Dr. Sujin Huggins (Information Studies), and students in the College of Applied Social Sciences, Bucher said.

An analysis of the survey data by Dominican will be included in a reparative justice report that will be presented to Oak Park taxing bodies, businesses and religious institutions.

There will be no recommendations from Dominican faculty and students in the report, Bucher said.

“Our role is not to influence what the village does,” he said of the Dominican team, which also built the survey. “Our role is to gather the data from Black residents of Oak Park and then present the data.”

Dominican is participating in the research at no cost to the university or task force, Bucher said.

“The idea of reparative justice is something that honors Dominican’s history with social justice and who we are now in our commitment to anti-racism,” Bucher said in an earlier statement regarding the project. “We are playing our part as a higher learning institution to contribute our research capacity to support community and social impact.”

The citizen-led Oak Park Reparations Task Force consists of 12 Black Oak Park residents who are studying the possibility of reparations for Black residents and the type of reparations that may be proposed.

The city of Evanston, for example, approved a program in 2021 that provides eligible applicants up to $25,000 to be used toward the purchase of a home, home renovations or mortgage assistance.

The village of Oak Park is not currently involved in the task force’s work.