The Obama Presidential Center has put out a call for unpaid volunteers for its Chicago location when it opens later this year, though it’s chief executive will be handsomely compensated with a $740,000 salary, according to news reports.
From 75 to 100 volunteers known as “ambassadors” will be hired to greet visitors and guide guests around the facility, as well as perform other tasks, once it launches in June, according to news release and the center’s volunteer application web page.
“The Obama Presidential Center is a place where the world meets the best of the city of Chicago, and our volunteers will help bring that vision to life every day,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of The Obama Foundation.
Work continues on the Obama Presidential Center on Jan. 13, 2026, in Chicago. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty)
The volunteers “will create a welcoming and inclusive experience for visitors while representing the strength, resilience, and leadership of this community,” she said, concluding, “Together, we are building something that inspires service, connection, and action far beyond our walls.”
Meanwhile, Jarrett, a longtime Obama advisor, as well as other center officials, are being compensated with six-figure salaries to run the 19.3-acre campus in Chicago’s Jackson Park, several news outlets reported.
According to Fox News Digital:
Federal filings viewed by Fox News Digital show Jarrett made $740,000 in 2024, 2023 and 2022, while several former Obama White House officials have collected six-figure salaries as foundation executives.
Total salaries and benefits at the foundation climbed from $18.5 million in 2018 to $43.7 million in 2024 as staffing expanded to 337 employees and annual revenue reached nearly $210 million, according to the filings. The foundation’s main office is located in Chicago’s Hyde Park, where it runs leadership and community programs in the U.S. and abroad.
Volunteers are often used in the world of nonprofits. Libraries, museums and cultural institutions frequently use volunteer programs to assist visitors and support operations.
The Obama foundation appears to believe that volunteers are a way to build an attitude of service.
The two-term president is quoted on the application, saying, “I’m calling on all Americans to make volunteering and community service part of your daily life and the life of this nation.”
The foundation stated in its news release:
Volunteerism has been central to President Obama’s vision of civic life since his earliest days as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side. His presidential campaign mobilized 2.2 million grassroots volunteers, and his administration expanded national service through landmark initiatives including the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and United We Serve. The Obama Foundation Volunteer Program extends that tradition, channeling the energy and dedication of community members into the daily life of the Center.
The recruitment effort seeks volunteers who are “adaptable and able to follow directions,” “reliable and enthusiastic,” “possess good communication skills” and are “able to use computerized online scheduling system,” the application web page stated.
The Obama Presidential Center, located on the city’s south side, is presented in its promotional materials as a campus designed to serve as a museum, community hub, public gathering space and a “global hub for change.”
As Breitbart News reported last year, it was originally estimated to cost $300 million, before the budget was revised upward to $500 million in 2017, and then further up to $700 million in 2021. The final cost of the campus with its mammoth grey monolith building has been reported to be $850 million.
The center is scheduled to open on Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more
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