The Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition of organizations to ensure that the upcoming Obama Presidential Center builds South Side communities and not cause further displacement. Join them in demanding a community benefits agreement!
Five years ago, the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) declared its home on the south side of Chicago; it was presented as an opportunity to “revitalize”the area. Since then, we’ve been engaged in fierce community discussions about the economic impact of the center.
Neighborhoods like Woodlawn, South Shore, and Washington Park have long faced pressures from gentrification, and we’re concerned that the Obama Center has the potential to displace the very residents it hopes to serve.
As longtime and native south-side residents, we wanted our voices heard, so we formed the Obama Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Coalition to ensure that our neighborhoods surrounding the center remain affordable for low-income south siders. Ten thousand Woodlawn residents are at risk of displacement if we do not act. For some, like CBA organizer Kyana Butler, the mere announcement about the OPC was enough to force her to move. Rents are rising in newly renovated and constructed units, which most current renters in this neighborhood cannot afford, and prices of for-sale housing are rising faster than the city average...
Neighborhoods like Woodlawn, South Shore, and Washington Park have long faced pressures from gentrification, and we’re concerned that the Obama Center has the potential to displace the very residents it hopes to serve.
As longtime and native south-side residents, we wanted our voices heard, so we formed the Obama Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Coalition to ensure that our neighborhoods surrounding the center remain affordable for low-income south siders. Ten thousand Woodlawn residents are at risk of displacement if we do not act. For some, like CBA organizer Kyana Butler, the mere announcement about the OPC was enough to force her to move. Rents are rising in newly renovated and constructed units, which most current renters in this neighborhood cannot afford, and prices of for-sale housing are rising faster than the city average...
—Obama CBA
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Interviewees:
Ebonée Green | Obama CBA Organizer, BYP100 Kyana Butler | Obama CBA Organizer, STOP Chicago Ashli Giles-Perkins | Obama CBA Organizer, BYP100 Chant and Press Conference Speakers Kristiana Rae Colón | Let Us Breathe Collective Sharon Nelson Payne | Obama CBA Organizer, STOP Chicago Ariel Atkins | Black Lives Matter Chicago |
Written, Directed, & Produced by Caullen Hudson
Cinematography by Dakota Sillyman Edited by Austin C. Pruett Additional Cinematography by Austin C. Pruett, Caullen Hudson, & Sidnee King Color Correction by AJ Grimm Drone Photography by Edwin Diaz Obama CBA Coordinating Liaison, Laurel Chen Page Photos, Hannah Linsky |
This multimedia, cross-platform project was produced in collaboration with the Chicago Reader.
Related Podcast Episode
BrownTown chops it up with Ashli Giles-Perkins and Ebonée Green, organizers with Black Youth Project 100 and the Obama Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) coalition. The gang talks about the effects of the future Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on Chicago's South Side, the organizing for a CBA to ensure affordable housing for area residents, as well as its relationship with healthcare, education, and police violence.
