Obama Foundation Honors Workers with Wall

The Obama Foundation has unveiled plans to erect a Worker Appreciation Wall at the Barack Obama Presidential Center this June. 

At over 30 feet long and 6 feet high, the Worker Appreciation Wall will feature 4,500 carved in bronze honoring construction workers, vendor staff and Obama Foundation employees both former and present, who helped develop the Obama Presidential Center. Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett noted her appreciation of the magnanimous event and those to be observed in an official statement.  

Jarrett declared, “The Obama Presidential Center was built by thousands of hands and minds — many rooted on the South Side and across Chicago — working together to build something extraordinary. The Worker Appreciation Wall is a permanent expression of our gratitude and a reminder that this place, and its story, exist because of the people and businesses who committed their time, skill, and care to bringing it into being.” 

Aside from employees who helped bring the Obama Presidential Center into existence, nearly 400 businesses will also be emblazoned onto the Worker Appreciation Wall. Those to be mentioned will include The Chicago Botanic Garden and Emmy award-winning performance collective/design studio/film & video production company Manual Cinema.  

An online version of the Worker Appreciation Wall is slated to appear on the Obama Foundation’s website complete with names of individuals and organizations who worked for the Obama Presidential Center after November 30, 2025, and before the building’s public opening.