AU STIN WEEKLY news

Senior Editor Bob Uphues

Digital Manager Stacy Coleman

Reporter Igor Studenkov

Community Narrative Repor ter Shanel Romain

Repor ting Par tners Block Club, Austin Talks Columnist Arlene Jones

Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead

CREDIT: OBAMA FOUNDATION working with local businesses in general, they never talked about food services specifically. Crawford also said he invited the foundation to attend his organization’s monthly meetings, but it never took him up on it.

Rendering of a café on the Garden Level of the Museum building for the Obama Presidential Center.

The Obama Foundation describes the Obama Presidential Center as a combination of a traditional presidential library, a museum and a community gathering and event venue.

“The vision for the OPC is inspired by the legacy of civic engagement shared by Barack and Michelle Obama and will tell the story of the Obama Administration’s achievements, challenges, and lessons lear ned – as well as of the millions of Americans, in and out of gover nment, at all levels of society, who made that jour ney possible” reads the official description. “The OPC will be a home for recreation, engagement, storytelling, and story making, and will include a collection of public buildings, a plaza, walkways, and other spaces designed to communicate the message that all are invited here to lear n, convene, converse, collaborate, and create.”

While the foundation considered several sites – including the “Silver Shovel” site in Nort h Lawndale – it settled on Jackson Park, near South Shore, Michelle Obama’s home neighborhood

The center will include a restaurant with between 75 and 90 indoor seats and 45 to 60 outdoor seats. It will be a casual eatery with a “counter service model” where customers either take the food themselves or have the food delivered to them. It would offer “a wide variety of diverse offerings that reflect the foundation’s values.”

The center would also have a café that served coffee and alcoholic drinks along with pastries, salads, sandwiches and snacks The foundation is also looking to hire catering companies to cater events at the center.

Harris said they were taking a cue from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“They created a dining experience that really truly celebrates our food and our culture,” he said. “I think the other piece to note is that we want local flare, we want to ensure all the wonderful choices in Chicago area are represented in this space, and we want to make sure there’s a scale.”

The foundation held two virtual and two in-person Q&A sessions, including a Nov. 14 in-person session at the Lawndale Christian Health Center, 3750 W. Ogden Ave.

Harris said small and large catering companies, coffee shop owners and local restaurants attended the outreach events, saying that, so far, they attracted “a pretty diverse group of folks in the restaurant industry.”

“President and Mrs. Obama, they chose to locate the museum steps from where they got their start, to give back to the community that gave so much to them,” he added. “While we recognize that the center will be directly on South Side, it will benefit the West Side as well.”

When asked to elaborate, Harris said the center will create jobs and encourage visitors to patronize West Side businesses

“We want to make sure that those visitors go out to the neighborhoods in the south and west side to engage in local businesses and eat at local restaurants,” he said. “We view this library, this campus, as the economic incubator.”

For more information about this and other bids, visit https://www.obama.org/opportunities/

Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea Designer Susan McKelvey

S ales & Marketing Representavies

Lourdes Nicholls, Marc Stopeck, Kamil Brady Business & Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan

Donor Relations Manager/Food Editor Melissa Elsmo

Circulation Manager Jill Wagner

Publisher Dan Haley

Special Projects Manager Susan Walker

Board Of Directors

Chair Judy Gre n Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Steve Edwards, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer

How To Reach Us

141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE 773-626-6332 • FAX 708-467-9066

CIRCULATION Jill@oakpark.com

ONLINE ww w.AustinWeeklyNews.com

Austin Weekly News is published digitally and in print by Growing Community Media NFP It is distributed free of charge at locations across Austin and Gar eld Park. Our hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Adver tising rates are available by calling our o ce. Printed entirely on recycled paper

© 2023 Growing Community Media NFP