For many Chicagoans, particularly Black Chicagoans, the opening of the Obama Presidential Center feels deeply personal.

The long-awaited cultural institution, set to open to the public on Juneteenth weekend, has been years in the making. Built in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, the sprawling campus includes a museum, public library branch, athletic facilities, gardens, walking trails, and community gathering spaces. But according to Valerie Jarrett, the center was never intended to function solely as a monument to the Obama presidency.

“This is not a monument to President Obama,” Jarrett told BET. “It’s about the stories of so many people who made his journey possible and who made our country and the world better through their hard work and efforts.”

Jarrett, who serves as CEO of the Obama Foundation, has overseen the project's development during a politically charged period for conversations about race, equity, and public investment. The center’s opening comes as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives continue to face coordinated political attacks nationwide, including cuts to DEI programs across higher education, government, and corporate America.

Against that backdrop, the symbolism of a permanent institution dedicated to the nation’s first Black president, on Chicago’s South Side, carries added weight.

Jarrett understands that personally.

“I grew up on the South Side of Chicago,” she said. “I spent my childhood riding my bike through Jackson Park.”

She recalled noticing, even as a child, the stark disparities in public investment between Chicago’s South Side and wealthier parts of the city.

“I was struck by how little investment there was on the South Side compared to downtown and the North Side,” Jarrett said. “I just thought it was unfair. Profoundly unfair.”

That history has shaped how foundation leaders discuss the center’s role in the community. Supporters have long argued that the project could become an economic catalyst for the South Side, drawing tourism, jobs, and new infrastructure investment into historically disinvested neighborhoods.

Critics, however, have spent years raising concerns about displacement and gentrification around the center’s development. Community organizers and preservation advocates previously challenged the project in court, arguing that rising property values and outside development could push longtime residents out of surrounding neighborhoods.

Jarrett said the foundation took those concerns seriously from the outset.

“We reached out to many of those community members early and throughout the process,” she said. “We listened very closely to people who had concerns.”

She pointed to several initiatives the foundation says were designed to ensure local residents benefit directly from the center, including hiring workers from Chicago’s South and West sides, partnering with diverse contractors and architects, and highlighting local businesses inside the campus retail spaces.

According to the Obama Foundation, the construction project exceeded the city’s participation goals for minority- and women-owned businesses during development. The foundation has also emphasized workforce diversity throughout construction and operations planning.

Jarrett said those commitments were visible in the labor force itself.

“Everybody I know who drove by when we were under construction has said they had never seen such a diverse workforce ever,” she said.

The Obama Presidential Center also enters Chicago at a moment when public safety conversations remain politically fraught. Large-scale developments in predominantly Black neighborhoods often raise concerns around over-policing and surveillance, especially during major public events.

When asked how the center plans to balance safety and accessibility, Jarrett emphasized de-escalation and community-centered enforcement.

“We spent a lot of time training our team on how you can enforce rules respectfully, clearly, equally and deliberately,” she said. “Our intention is, if there are tensions, that we will help de-escalate those tensions.”

Still, much of the emotional resonance surrounding the center stems from what it represents culturally for Black Americans who lived through the Obama presidency.

Inside the museum, visitors will encounter a full replica of the Oval Office, along with exhibits designed to encourage people to connect their own lives to the Obama story. Jarrett described watching schoolchildren react to a famous photograph of a young Black boy touching President Obama’s hair inside the White House.

“You can’t be what you can’t see,” she said.

The center’s programming will also lean heavily into visual and performing arts. Jarrett noted that the campus includes 28 commissioned art pieces from artists representing a wide range of backgrounds, continuing the Obamas’ longstanding emphasis on expanding cultural representation.

The opening festivities during Juneteenth weekend are expected to include performances, public programming, films, family activities, and community events designed to welcome both local residents and international visitors.

For Jarrett, though, the deeper significance of the center extends beyond politics or tourism metrics.

“We believe fervently that ordinary people who work together can do extraordinary things,” she said.

That philosophy, she argues, is ultimately what the Obama Presidential Center is meant to preserve.