Former President Barack Obama Leadership Summit in Chicago This Month

Story by USANewToday
Written by Neil T

Former President Barack Obama announced in a video that he is inviting civic leaders from around the globe to Chicago nthis month, where they will exchange ideas and plan ways to solve some of the world’s common problems.

The inaugural Obama Foundation Leadership Summit “will be a place to gather and learn from one another, and then go back to your communities to lead others in the hard work of change,” Obama said in a video and email released to supporters.

President Obama said he expects the summit will bring together hundreds of leaders from around the world—many of them young people. The summit will be the beginning of several activities the Foundation is planning, Obama said:

"In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll be kicking off more initiatives and opportunities for people like you to get involved with the Obama Foundation’s mission. That mission is simple: We want to inspire and empower people to change the world."

The former President wrote in the email that one of the new projects is an Obama Foundation fellowship “to support and elevate outstanding civic innovators‚ individuals from around the world who are working with their fellow citizens to tackle big challenges.” Another project will be “training days,” which he said will “teach young people how to put civics into action where they live.”

Other projects are in the works, including the merging of Obama’s signature My Brother’s Keeper Alliance program fully into the Obama Foundation.

With the summit, President Obama said he and his wife Michelle Obama want to “hear directly from the future leaders we want to cultivate,” according to The Hill:

"And what makes me so hopeful, so optimistic, is that so many of you have shown up, dived in and embraced the kind of active citizenship that makes our democracy work."