The Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously early Wednesday to establish one of the nation's largest locally funded restorative justice programs, allocating $3.5 million to address decades of historical harms caused by city actions against African American residents and other marginalized communities.
The 7-0 vote, which came shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday, marks a significant shift from symbolic gestures to "funded action" in the city's four-year effort to reckon with its history of displacement, discrimination and exclusionary policies.
"This is the first time that we've ever actually moved forward in a meaningful way with resources," Mayor Caroline Torosis said during the meeting. "People have been asking me since I came on the council, what are you doing? Where are you? Are you putting meaningful resources behind this?"
The program will be funded with one-time money received through a development agreement with the RAND Corporation, avoiding impact to the city's general operating budget. An additional $2 million from RAND expected within three years could bring total funding to $5.5 million, though the council deferred allocation of those future funds until the program's structure is more clearly defined.
The initiative represents a fundamental change in how Santa Monica addresses claims of historically rooted harm. City Manager Oliver Chi told the council the program would establish a "mechanism through which those dollars can be invested" as it grows over time, encompassing both direct reparations and future-oriented programming.
"We've heard repeatedly from the council the importance of not just articulating what we intend to do, but developing a programmatic framework to actually start addressing claims of historically rooted harm in the city," Chi said in his presentation.
The council authorized staff to create a formal Restorative Justice Commission, appointed by the City Council, to develop program criteria, eligibility standards and oversight mechanisms. Staff anticipates the commission will be operational by March or April. The city will also hire an independent program administrator to support the commission's work and handle the logistics of a claims process.
The program's catalyst was a settlement reached in late 2025 with descendants of Silas White regarding the Ebony Beach Club, a significant Black social institution that lost its leasehold interest following city condemnation proceedings in the late 1950s. That settlement included a $350,000 payment and guaranteed White's descendants the ability to file claims under any future restorative justice program.
But council members emphasized the program extends far beyond any single case. According to a staff report, Santa Monica's initiative differs from most municipal reparations efforts nationwide, which typically address specific incidents, lack dedicated funding, or target only one aspect of historical harm.
A comparative analysis prepared by staff shows that while Los Angeles County paid $20 million to one family for Bruce's Beach and Evanston, Illinois, allocated $10 million from cannabis tax revenue for housing reparations, few jurisdictions have established general restorative justice programs capable of addressing multiple categories of historically rooted harms.
Council Member Lana Negrete stressed the importance of programming alongside any direct payments, drawing on her personal experience growing up in Santa Monica's housing projects.
"There's no dollar amount or reparation that will ever fill the gap with that, but we can empower people and give people the tools that created this, not just a generational wealth gap, but, you know, a gap in education and tools to survive in the world and be successful," Negrete said.
She suggested partnerships with major corporations to provide financial literacy courses, college application assistance, childcare subsidies and credit repair programs that could help the fund grow and sustain itself for years.
The program builds on work that began in 2022 when the city issued a formal apology to Santa Monica's African American residents. In 2025, the city established a Land Back and Reparations Task Force, which developed a "harms report" that Chi said would serve as the foundation for the new commission's work.
Torosis requested a presentation on that report before the council begins appointing commission members.
Council Member Ellis Raskin added a friendly amendment directing staff to explore how freeway lands — referring to Interstate 10, which displaced the historically Black Pico neighborhood — could be reused to promote restorative justice.
Several residents submitted written comments supporting the program. Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels wrote that establishing the commission was "only fair and just," while longtime resident Michele Wittig urged the city to ensure implementation includes "inclusive community truth-telling, acknowledging wrongs, taking reparative actions, making restitution and achieving reconciliation."
The program remains open-ended regarding how funds will ultimately be distributed. Chi told the council that determination would be made by the commission as it develops the overall program framework.
"All of that we envision will be part of the work that the commission undertakes in developing an overall program that would be administered," Chi said.