Formation | 2014 |
---|---|
Founders | |
Type | Non-operating private foundation |
EIN 46-4950751 [1] | |
Legal status | 501(c)(3) organization |
Headquarters | Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois |
Valerie Jarrett | |
Revenue | $143,158,266 (2019) [2] |
Endowment | $429,545,259 (2019) [2] |
Website | www |
| ||
---|---|---|
Pre-presidency 44th President of the United States First term Second term Post-presidency Publications Personal | ||
The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance (a program Barack Obama began while he was president), and operates a scholarship program through the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy.
The foundation held its inaugural summit on October 31, 2017, in Chicago. According to Barack Obama, he intends for his foundation to be central to many of his post-presidential activities, which he sees as having the potential to be more consequential than his time in the White House. [3]
The foundation's first president was Adewale Adeyemo, an economist and former Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs who joined in August 2019. [4] In 2020, President-elect Joe Biden selected Adeyemo to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, and he was replaced by Valerie Jarrett. [5] Jarrett has been CEO of the Foundation since 2021 [6]
The Foundation raised $232.6 million in 2017 and $164.8 million in 2018. [7] [8] In 2022, all contributions and in-kind gifts totaled $311 million. It has net assets of $925 million and has raised $1.1 billion since 2017. [9]
The foundation's major project as of March 2018 [update] is to oversee the creation of the planned presidential library of former president Obama. In May 2015, the foundation, along with Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, announced the development of the center and its location in the Jackson Park neighborhood of Chicago's South Side. [10] The planning process met with criticism from some local leaders who questioned the benefit for the surrounding area and did not feel the community was sufficiently involved. [11] [12] On February 26, 2019, Chicago residents voted to require a community benefits agreement in order to make the Center official, something to which the Obama Foundation has objected. [13] [14]
Updated plans were released in 2019, with some changes based on feedback. The complex includes four buildings, with a museum, public space, public library branch, and athletic center. It was designed by the architectural firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien. [15]
Construction on the 19.3 acre campus is expected to top out in April 2024, and be completed in October 2025. [16]
The My Brother's Keeper Alliance (MBK Alliance) is a program inspired by President Obama's My Brother's Keeper Challenge that he started through the White House in 2014. Its purpose is to address challenges and opportunity gaps that boys and young men of color face, providing support through mentoring, education, job training, and other activities. [17] [18] In 2017, MBK Alliance was moved into the Obama Foundation. [19]
In February 2018 the foundation announced it had begun a scholarship program at the University of Chicago. The scholarships are awarded to 25 American and international master's students in the Harris School of Public Policy in an effort to cultivate leadership through the Presidential Center. It covers the students' tuition and living expenses while they work with the foundation and take classes. [20] [21] It also began sponsoring fellowships called Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University, Obama's alma mater. In its first year, 2018, the non-degree-granting program paid the expenses and provided a stipend for 12 international students. [22]
In May 2022, The Obama Foundation announced a $100 million gift from Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky. The gift was to launch a new scholarship program for students pursuing careers in public services. The Voyager Scholarship aka The Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service aims to support students in their junior and senior years of college with up to $50,000 in financial aid, a $10,000 stipend and free Airbnb housing to pursue a summer work-travel experience between their junior and senior years of college; a $2,000 travel credit every year for 10 years following graduation; an annual summit; and a network of mentors. [23] On September 12, 2022, the inaugural cohort of 100 "Voyagers" was announced. The inaugural cohort represents 36 US states and territories as well as 70 US colleges and universities. [24] Barack Obama and Brian Chesky surprised the 2022 cohort via Zoom call to share insights into their public service journeys and to congratulate the students on their selection. [25]
Bobby Lee Rush is an American politician, activist and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 1st congressional district for three decades. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.
In the United States, the presidential library system is a nationwide network of 16 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). These are repositories for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of every president of the United States since Herbert Hoover, the 31st president from 1929–1933. In addition to the library services, museum exhibitions concerning the presidency are displayed.
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in United States history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and as a community service organizer, civil rights lawyer, and university lecturer.
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The Avalon Regal Theater is a music hall located at 1641 East 79th Street, bordered by the Avalon Park and South Shore neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The theater opened in August 1927 and is a noted venue for African-American performers.
During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, controversy broke out regarding Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a former leader of the Weather Underground, a radical left organization in the 1970s. Investigations by CNN, The New York Times and other news organizations concluded that Obama did not have a close relationship with Ayers.
The family of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, is a prominent American family active in law, education, activism and politics. Obama's immediate family circle was the first family of the United States from 2009 to 2017, and are the first such family of African-American descent. His immediate family includes his wife Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha.
Cesar Conde is an American media executive currently serving as chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, overseeing NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC. Prior to this, Conde was chairman of NBCUniversal International Group and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Before that, he was president of Univision's networks division.
Brian Joseph Chesky is an American businessman and industrial designer and the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. As of January 2024, Chesky is the 232nd richest person in the world according to Forbes, with a net worth of $9.4 billion, mostly due to his ownership of 76 million shares of Airbnb.
The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a planned museum, library and education project in Chicago to commemorate the presidency of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. The center will also include community and conference facilities and will house the nonprofit Obama Foundation. Construction on the 19.3 acre campus is expected to top out in mid-2024, and the center to open in the first half of 2026.
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Media related to Obama Foundation at Wikimedia Commons