The MacArthur Foundation is planning a $5 million grant to create a new Chicago Public Library branch at the Obama Presidential Center, the foundation announced Monday.
The money will help pay for construction at the planned site of former President Barack Obama’s $500 million presidential center in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, the Chicago-based nonprofit said. The 5,000-square-foot public library will house multimedia collections, have community programs, a children’s area and offer space for reading and studying.
Housing a public library branch in the presidential center will connect Chicago residents and visitors “to each other and to a world of imagination and information,” MacArthur President Julia Stasch said.
The center was originally slated to open in 2021, though ground hasn’t yet broken because of litigation over the use of public parkland.