Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will host Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and community leaders at a private event in Chicago on Wednesday. Attendees will learn about the coming Obama Presidential Center and likely be encouraged to donate to the project.
The South Shore Cultural Center event is intended as a way to “update the community on the progress of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park and hear directly from members of the community on their ideas for the Center,” according to a Monday statement from the Obama Foundation.
However, the 11 a.m. CST discussion will take place as a roundtable discussion and is closed to the general public.
In mid-February, Obama attended four strategy meetings regarding the South Side facility, which will include a museum, library and event center.
The former president met with neighborhood leaders at the Obama Foundation’s Hyde Park office and three others about fundraising the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary for construction.
Former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and her husband, Bryan Traubert, were on hand for the financial talks, as well as top benefactors, Jim and Lester Crown. Jordan Kaplan, who raising financial support for Obama as a U.S. senator, has been appointed chief development officer of the project.
Planning for the Obama Presidential Center comes at a turbulent time in Chicago’s history.
Gun-related violence in Chicago is outpacing the same period in 2016, which was one of the most deadly years in recent history.
