President Obama, the 44th president of the United States and a Chicago native, will open his presidential library in the spring of 2026. President Obama served two terms as president between 2009 and 2017, and before that, he served as an Illinois State Senator from 1997 to 2004. He served almost another full term as a United States Senator representing the state of Illinois from 2005 to 2008.
Members of Parker’s faculty see the placement of the library in Chicago as a positive development for the city. “[The library will be] a center of hope,” Upper School history teacher and department co-chair Andrew Bigelow said. Obama has always strived for better access to jobs in Chicago. “He was a community activist,” eighth grade history teacher Stephanie Nishimoto-Lorenzo said. “[The library being here] makes sense to me,” library assistant Eric Rampson said.
Obama campaigned on education throughout his career, as a senator and then as president. Education is one of the key focuses of his presidential library because many schools in Chicago are underfunded and need resources. “Schools need to meet students’ needs more,” Nishimoto-Lorenzo said. The Obama Presidential Center has already started many education initiatives in Chicago and across the country.
One of these initiatives is the Obama Youth Jobs Corps (OYJC). The OYJC helps to provide Chicago high school students who wouldn’t normally be able to get internships and job training. “[Obama’s goal was to] provide students with real skills, such as financial literacy,” Bigelow said.
Another initiative that Obama founded in 2014 was the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. He founded the alliance in response to the death of Trayvon Martin. The alliance is a part of the Obama Foundation’s efforts to help young men of color become leaders in their communities and have a positive impact on their lives.
“Any institution can always get better,” Nishimoto-Lorenzo said. Obama’s area of focus is primarily on the South and West sides of Chicago, and in Chicago Public Schools. Parker is fortunate enough to have resources, and so it is important to help the greater Chicago community. The Obama Foundation relies heavily on volunteers, and it accepts student volunteers from all over the city. “There are deficiencies everywhere,” Rampson said.
In 2015, he signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which drastically changed how America approaches education. The ESSA provides more flexibility for districts, allowing them to use funds as needed for their locations, while also setting higher academic standards for the schools to meet.
The ESSA reaffirmed the No Child Left Behind Act signed by former President George Bush in 2002, which also increased academic standards for schools but provided less flexibility for states and districts. Additionally, the ESSA aims to make a more equitable learning environment instead of a more universal education plan. The ESSA also focuses on general life skills in addition to academic achievement. These general life skills include time management and critical thinking, both of which are taught at Parker.
Sixteen official presidential libraries appear in 11 states. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is the first and currently the only open presidential library in Illinois. Different presidents have different types of libraries. “Presidential libraries are meant to educate people on the presidency,” Nishimoto-Lorenzo said. Presidential libraries take many different forms. The Obama Presidential Library is most similar to the Carter Presidential Library in Georgia, as they are both the centers of their respective foundations. Other presidential libraries present more as museums with lots of artifacts, and some others appear as more of a center for the president’s archives. But all presidential libraries are paid for by the president, often by raising money, and then turned over to the federal government after their completion.
Lots of fundraising is required for the completion of a presidential library. As of 2024, the Obama Foundation has raised 1.6 billion dollars. As of the end of 2024, the foundation has spent 615 million out of an estimated 850 million dollars on construction, which is more than their original estimate of the cost.
Many Chicagoans have high expectations for the library, but many have no idea what the library is going to do to affect Chicago. “We have to wait until it’s here,” Rampson said. The library is going to be located in Hyde Park, close to the Museum of Science and Industry. It has a modern design and is an easily recognizable structure.