WOODLAWN — With the Obama Presidential Center set to open next year, the Obama Foundation is launching a series of tours around the site for neighbors to ask questions about the center’s impact on the community.
The Obama Foundation’s public tours take visitors around the perimeter of the future Obama Center, 6001 S. Stony Island Ave. in Woodlawn, and will continue monthly through November. The tours aim to “help people understand who we are, what the center is, what the spaces will be and how they can show up on campus,” said Josh Harris, the foundation’s vice president for public engagement.
The next tour is at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 30, followed by tours at 11 a.m. Oct. 18 and 11 a.m. Nov. 15. No advance registration is required, as a sign-in table will be on the west side of Stony Island Avenue near the construction site entrance.
“There is no limit” to the number of attendees, Harris said. “We can have 40 people, we can have 150 people — we will staff it appropriately to make sure everybody is hearing and seeing the same info.”
Tour guides will discuss programs planned for the center, from the four floors of exhibition space in the museum building to the speaker series and town halls planned for the forum building, Harris said.
They’ll also inform attendees on the design, construction and layout of the campus, and highlight partnerships with local institutions like chef Cliff Rome’s food service company and the Chicago Public Library, Harris said. Beyond the planned talking points, guides will “make tweaks” to each tour based on questions and input from attendees, he said.
The site tours are intended for people who may not have attended previous community meetings about the center and interested to learn more, Harris said.
The foundation hosted its first tour Aug. 2, as reported by the Hyde Park Herald. The tour lasted an hour and focused on the center’s design, public features and artwork, the Herald reported.
Attendees visit an informational table on Aug. 2 during the first of four scheduled public tours of the Obama Center site prior to its opening next year. Credit: The Obama Foundation
The Obama Center — which was initially scheduled to open in 2021 — is now set to open next year.
The center has been under construction since 2021. The campus will include a museum building, a forum building, a Chicago Public Library branch and public art. The Home Court, a 45,000-square-foot arena with a full-size basketball court, intersecting practice courts and fitness and training facilities, will open there in late 2025.
The launch of the site tours coincides with the foundation’s “77 Neighborhood Tour,” which aims to bring public meetings on the Obama Center to each community area in Chicago.
The neighborhood tour debuted in June at the Silver Room in Hyde Park, and foundation officials have visited with residents in nearly 40 communities — mostly in neighborhood libraries and cafés — as of Monday.
The meetings continue with two sessions Tuesday. The first is 10 a.m.-noon at Overflow Coffee, 1449 S. Michigan Ave. in the South Loop, followed by a meeting 4-6 p.m. at the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St. in the Loop.
Following Tuesday’s meetings, two other sessions are scheduled this week. The first is noon-2 p.m. Thursday at the Archer Heights branch library, 5055 S. Archer Ave., while the second is 4-6 p.m. Thursday at Dulce Mami Café, 2559 W. 51st St. in Gage Park.
Construction on the Barack Obama Presidential Center on Jan. 22, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
For a full list of remaining meeting dates and locations, click here.
Public engagement and input will continue once the center is open, as foundation staff meets with civic groups like the Jackson Park Advisory Council and attend town halls with local alds. Desmon Yancy (5th) and Jeanette Taylor (20th), Harris said.
“We’re not going to leave those spaces,” Harris said. “We’re not going to stop trying to expand our reach and make sure people can come to the center, participate in our programs and get involved in our work.”
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