Tipsheet

The Obama Presidential Center Is Asking for Volunteers to Do What?

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  March 16, 2026 9:30 AM

We're about two and a half months away from the Obama Presidential Center opening up in Chicago. The building is a study in both progressive brutalist architecture and progressive wasteful spending. It looks like something out of the Star Wars evil Empire, and it cost nearly a billion dollars to build.

Despite all that money, the Obama Presidential Center is looking for a bunch of unpaid volunteers to staff the place while CEO Valerie Jarrett raked in almost three-quarters of a million in 2024.

Here's more (emphasis added):

The Obama Foundation is looking for 100 unpaid volunteers to work alongside the former president’s highly paid cronies at the $850 million Obama Presidential Center in Chicago when it opens in June.

Officials are pitching the no-paycheck gigs as rooted in former President Barack Obama’s legacy of civic engagement.

The recruitment campaign comes after Fox News Digital reported that the organization’s CEO, former top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, was paid $740,000 in 2024.

Foundation officials told Fox News Digital the volunteers will complement about 300 full- and part-time employees at the long-delayed center, which the organization is promoting as a $3.1 billion economic catalyst for the Windy City’s South Side.

The new program will have 75 to 100 volunteers, known as “ambassadors,” greet and direct visitors around the campus and share information about exhibits at the 22-story museum tower, athletic center and Chicago Public Library branch, among other amenities.

We have to admire their optimism in calling this an "economic catalyst" for Chicago. We're certain families will plan a stop at the monolith when they visit a city full of unchecked crime and violence.

We also have to ask, will the Obama Foundation be subject to the city's proposed head tax? Mayor Brandon Johnson wants businesses in the city to pay $21 per employee per month to offset the city's massive budget deficit. That means the Obama Foundation would be on the hook for $75,600 per year for its 300 paid employees.

Always. What happened to paying people a living wage, Barack?

Leftists build ugly things because that's how they view the world.

They're the same picture.

They never, ever change.

This is completely believable.

And when they do have to pay employees, they push to import illegal immigrants so they can pay them less. But they're the party of the working man.

Supposedly.

Bingo.

As always, it's (D)ifferent when they do it, however. Which is why we're guessing the Obama Foundation won't be paying that head tax, either.