PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA RETURNS TO CHICAGO FOR OBAMA FOUNDATION SUMMIT
President Barack Obama Returns To Chicago For Obama Foundation Summit
BY KATHERINE NEWMAN
The Obama Foundation recently hosted its third Summit in Chicago at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Bronzeville. President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, were both in attendance and spoke to attendees about their vision for the Obama Presidential Center and how it will impact Chicago.
The theme of the most recent Obama Foundation Summit was “Places Reveal our Purpose” and the first example of how places can have an impact on purpose was the Obama Foundation’s choice to host the event on the south side of Chicago at the Illinois Institute of Technology rather than at a convention center downtown or in another city.
“We’re hosting the Summit in our backyard, Chicago, the place the Obamas’ story began and the future home of the Obama Presidential Center and Museum,” David Simas, CEO of the Obama Foundation, said in a press release. “By anchoring the Summit in the power of place, the Foundation will uplift the idea that a person’s community shapes their purpose and guides them to do meaningful and impactful work.”
During the Obama Foundation Summit, former First Lady Michelle Obama sat down with her older brother, Craig Robinson, to talk about their memories of growing up on the south side of Chicago. Michelle and her brother talked about what they learned from their parents and how growing up on the south side impacted their thoughts and behaviors as they became adults and left the city.
“Unbeknownst to us, we grew up in the period called white flight where upstanding families like ours who were doing everything they were supposed to do would move into a neighborhood and white families would move out because they were afraid of what we represented,” said Michelle Obama during the Obama Foundation Summit. “I always like to stop and remind folks of this because white families were running from us, from this family and all the values that you have read about, they were running from us then and they’re still running from us. Our family was no different than the immigrant families that are moving in now, the families in Pilsen, and the families that are coming from other places to try to do better.”
President Obama sat down with a panel of young activists during the summit and shared with them some of his stories of getting started as an advocate and a politician.
“It is very rare where change happens overnight. When you’re young, you’re supposed to be impatient,” said Barack Obama to a panel of young activists during the Summit. “I think that the most important thing for all of you is to remember that the work you’re doing in this place at this moment is not going to be the beginning and it’s not the end. As long as you are doing good work in that moment and at the time and helping people concretely move the needle a little bit, then you can take satisfaction with that.”
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