2023 Community Impact Report

The 2023 Community Impact Report is here!

Report issued April 2024 by Lakeside Alliance, builder of the Obama Presidential Center

About the Data

Lakeside Alliance strives to ensure transparent and accurate reporting of every individual working on this historic project. Learn more about our three-pronged approach to labor compliance:

Intentional Transformation. Lasting Impact.

  • "Growing up in Chicago, I witnessed firsthand how construction could transform communities and the lives of people living in those communities."

    Luis Puig, President, ALL Masonry

  • “The project is not just the commemorative center of the first African American president, but truly a blueprint for diversity and inclusion and how everyone from the designer, to the office persons, to tradespersons can work together and prosper."

    Virginia Thornton, Quality Control Manager, Lakeside Alliance

  • "I learned that you can be what you want to be."

    Jori, 7th Grader, Attendee of Lakeside Alliance’s “Who Builds the World? Girls!” Event

  • "My greatest hope for the Obama Presidential Center is that when the communal workforce sits in their backyard and sees the tower standing tall in the east, they realize the impact they’ve made in their community."

    Mathieu Vollmer, Environment, Health and Safety Manager, Lakeside Alliance

  • "Our greatest hope is that this project not only brings contractors and vendors together, but serves as a symbol of how minorities can work together and be successful."

    Amy Stevenson, Vice President, Spotlight Cleaning Service Inc.

  • "There has never been a project this aggressive about bringing local people to the job site and putting them to work. "

    James Wallace, Midwest Regional Manager for Business Development, BrightView

  • "I want to say to Lakeside Alliance and the Obama Foundation, thank you for giving back and really doing what you said you would. They said they would promote small and minority businesses, and here we are!"

    Marco Romero, Marco Romero, President and Owner, IBuilders

  • "Lakeside Alliance is paying attention to the smaller contractors and making sure they have a part in this. And it’s not just with plumbing, I’ve seen them do so with electrical, HVAC, and more. They are looking for actual minority contractors and people who want to build their business and employ people from the neighborhood."

    Shawn Marsh, Partner, Marsh-Adamson Plumbing

  • "This project has the potential to transform the industry from its core."

    Jacob Chojnacki, General Manager, Air Design Systems

  • "This project gives minority firms the opportunity to show what they’re capable of when given the chance. It’s also an opportunity to show Chicago’s youth that there are possibilities for them…I want to be an example of what’s possible in this industry when you work hard."

    Ernest Edwards, Founder and President, U.S. Architectural Glass & Metal

  • "Being from the South Side of Chicago, I think it’s great that the Center will bring new opportunities and resources to the community. This project is going to be in the history books forever and I get to look back at this experience and say, ‘I helped build that.’"

    Alyssa Cuba, Ironworker

  • "I'm from Englewood on the South Side, so there is a sentimental aspect when I think about my kids and grandkids coming to see something I helped build in the community."

    Marquis Ruffin, Carpenter, W.E. O’Neil/Concrete Collective