The Obamas break ground on the Obama Presidential Center
President Barack Obama and Former First Lady Michelle Obama were joined by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and Aldermen Leslie Hairston and Greg Mitchell, for the groundbreaking of the Obama Presidents Center. Photo by Tia Carol Jones
People clamored outside the site of the Obama Presidential Center holding signs hoping to get a glimpse of the former President and First Lady.
Inside the site, dotted with construction equipment, the former President Barack Obama and the former First Lady Michelle Obama, were joined by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston and 7th Ward Alderman Greg Mitchell, for the groundbreaking of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.
“We chose this location for a few pretty good reasons. It’s close to where Michelle grew up, where I started my political career, it’s surrounded by vibrant neighborhoods and a community where we believe we can help make a difference,” Mr. Obama said.
The neighborhoods and communities where Mr. Obama started his work with church groups helped him learn everybody has a story to tell. Beneath people’s common differences they have common hopes, dreams and values that stitch them together.
“Chicago is where I found the purpose I’d been seeking. It’s where I finally put my ideas about Democracy and activism and social change to the test. Most importantly, it’s where I met a brilliant, beautiful daughter of the South side by the name of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson,” he said.
Mr. Obama found a home in Chicago, and it is where everything most precious to him began. He never lost sight of the important lessons he learned in the city – the power of place and the need to anchor efforts to build a better world in neighborhoods and communities. He said his background, a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, with family and friends from every part of the world, explains his core belief in the oneness of humanity, the belief in the God given dignity and worth of all people and the underlying bonds people share.
Mrs. Obama described herself as a proud Chicagoan and a daughter of the South side. It is something she wears boldly and proudly, like a crown. The experiences she had growing up in Chicago and the neighborhood where the Obama Presidential Center will be located shaped her values and guide her actions every single day.
“I’m not just a daughter from the South Side, but a mother from the South Side, a lawyer, an executive and author from the South Side. I am a First Lady from the South Side of Chicago. That is why this project is so incredibly important to me and my husband. It allows us to live out one of those values we learned right here, that is to give back something big and important and meaningful to the community that has given us so much,” Mrs. Obama said. “This substantial investment in the South Side will help make the neighborhood where we call home, a destination for the entire world.”
The Obama Presidential Center will be located on 19.3 acres of the 550-acre Jackson Park. It is expected to be completed in 2025 and will include a presidential museum, a branch of the Chicago Public Library, an athletic center, and a forum building with community space. Once completed, the Center is expected to generate $3.1 billion in economic activity, as well as create thousands of jobs.
“We want to look forward. We want this to be a living, thriving home for concerts, cultural events, lectures, trainings, summits, topical dialogues and conversations. We want this to be a hub for in-house fellows with real world experience, to share what’s working and what’s not in solving the big problems of the day. We envision this as a place where residents and visitors from all over the world, come together and restore the promise of the people’s park,” Mr. Obama said.
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