The Obama Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Coalition held its third annual summit at South Shore High School over the weekend, bringing together constituents to address urgent issues surrounding displacement as the Obama Presidential Center gears up for its 2026 opening.
Residents from the Woodlawn and South Shore neighborhoods met on Saturday to strategize on how to advocate for developments that prioritize their voices and needs.
Alderman Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) underscored the importance of protective legislation, cautioning that the development boom would extend beyond the Obama Center to affect the larger community.
“What is the legislation that we’re going to have in order to make sure we’re protected in every community? They ain’t gone just stop at the Obama Center. That’s just the biggest thing that’s going to be built,” Taylor proclaimed, eliciting agreement from the audience as she highlighted concerns over outside developers proposing projects, including a hotel near the designated site.
The discussion at the summit primarily focused on solutions to counter displacement, emphasizing community organizing and holding politicians accountable for their commitments to local constituents.
Despite invitations extended to Mayor Brandon Johnson and two local aldermen, neither attended, drawing criticism from attendees. Aldermen Michelle Harris (8th Ward) and Greg Mitchell (7th Ward) were specifically called out for their absence.
In the wake of the Obama Presidential Center’s announcement in 2015, community organizers fought successfully for a CBA agreement in Woodlawn, achieved in 2020.
This important accord ensured the creation of sites for affordable housing and laid out provisions that would allow long-term residents to become property owners.
However, since its success, advocates have been persistently urging the Chicago City Council to extend similar housing protections to the South Shore area, where many residents have voiced concerns about landlords failing to renew leases and the poor conditions of their living environments amid fears of displacement.
Woodlawn resident Charles Gill, a veteran of previous summits, expressed his solidarity for his South Shore neighbors.
“The information they give to try to support community input is very important for us to participate as African American people, to support our elders, who have been in the neighborhood forever,” Gill stated.
Alderman Desmon Yancy (5th Ward) echoed the call for a CBA ordinance in South Shore, stressing the unique value of the lakefront property there.
“This place is very special. So while people are coming to South Shore, we talk about gentrification, and that is a role that our government, unfortunately, has played in diluting our historic communities. The CBA is important because this pushes the government to do the right thing. We won in Woodlawn. We’re going to win in South Shore,” Yancy declared during a panel discussion that featured community representatives and elected officials.
The summit also turned its attention to the anticipated public-private quantum computing campus at the former U.S. Steel South Works site in South Chicago.
The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, backed by the Silicon Valley tech startup PsiQuantum, has received zoning change approval from the City Council, yet organizers lamented the lack of community input and consideration of potential negative impacts.
Both Alderman Mitchell and Mayor Johnson have expressed support for the quantum development, framing it as a boon for the Southeast Side and an investment opportunity for the region.
However, critics voiced significant concerns regarding the project’s ramifications.
“We have a number of concerns about this development. One, it will push us out of the neighborhood, raise the rent and property taxes in South Chicago and South Shore and cause gentrification just like the Obama Center is doing; it will not have jobs for residents,” argued Dawn Johnson, a member of Southside Together.
Johnson further explained to the audience that PsiQuantum has only guaranteed around 150 jobs, likely going to highly educated scientists from outside the area, rather than benefiting local residents.
“There’s also potential for this site to poison our water, air, and usage of our resources. The land they intend to build on is contaminated and harmful pollutants like arsenic and lead, yet the developers have not committed to remediation,” she emphasized.
Organizations like the Environment Transportation, Health and Open Space of South Shore and the Alliance of the Southeast have raised alarms about the quantum park initiative.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has pledged $500 million from the state toward the multibillion-dollar project.
In another context, Black residents in South Memphis are facing a similar struggle against Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer, which was established in their neighborhood without consent and is suspected of generating methane. The presence of such computing facilities contributes to the environmental racism that historically has affected Black communities in the United States.
South Shore resident Jerry Whirley, also a member of Southside Together, shared his dismay over the lack of transparency throughout the quantum facility’s development process and the negative implications for local residents.
“Let’s be honest, if this is truly a project for the community, [for] helping people, it wouldn’t have been happening without us. It wouldn’t be happening without real involvement, real conversation, or real accountability,” Whirley insisted. “There’s a reason this facility isn’t being built on the North Side or downtown. It’s because we’ve been treated like we’re disposable, but we’re not.”
The CBA Summit is set to continue with part two scheduled for September 27, featuring Mayor Johnson as a participant. The specific location for this follow-up event has yet to be determined.
In March, Johnson included the PsiQuantum Campus among $20 billion in investments earmarked for Black Chicagoans, claiming the quantum campus could yield a $20 billion economic impact over the next decade and create over 175,000 jobs.
image source from：thetriibe
