LA Stories
Workforce Spotlight: Kamonte Brown
Kamonte Brown found his path in construction with the support of St. Paul Community Development Ministries, a We Can Build It Consortium Partner, and their twelve-week pre-apprenticeship training program.
The Lakeside Alliance Team Looks Back on 2022
As we near the end of 2022, we asked the Lakeside Alliance team how they would sum up the year and what they are most looking forward to in 2023.
Second Generation Plumber and Navy Vet Shawn Marsh Shares Hopes for the OPC and More
Lakeside Alliance caught up with the U.S. Navy veteran ahead of Veterans’ Day on November 11 to thank him for his service, learn more about his journey in the industry and hear about his greatest hopes for the OPC.
A Hispanic Heritage Month Interview with Jorge Escarpita and Luis Puig
Jorge Escarpita, founder and president of Escarpita Construction, and Luis Puig, president of ALL Masonry, have conquered barriers and bias in the industry, and won. Both agree that winning key roles in the creation of such a high-profile, large project is especially meaningful for them and their respective businesses.
Resource Center Leaves the Door Open to Opportunity
Not until 2025 will visitors from around the world be able to walk the halls and grounds of the Obama Presidential Center. In the meantime, Lakeside Alliance’s new in-person Resource Center is open and the place where community members can come to connect with this historic building project and learn about opportunities with Lakeside Alliance.
Workforce Spotlight: Sharika Harris
A graduate of George W. Collins High School in North Lawndale, Sharika Harris found her career path with the help of Chicago Women In Trades and got connected to the Obama Presidential Center project via the We Can Build It Consortium.
Subcontractor Spotlight: U.S. Architectural Glass & Metal
As one of only a handful of minority-owned glazing companies in the United States, U.S. Architectural Glass & Metal will install the exterior glass for the Obama Presidential Center. For this Subcontractor Spotlight, we spoke with U.S. Architectural’s Founder and President, Ernest Edwards.
INTERNSHIPS | The A Team
If you visited the job site this summer, you might have met one of the five interns from Lakeside Alliance partner companies who spent an exciting summer working on the historic Obama Presidential Center project. These young people were part of an A Team of future engineers, construction managers and architects who were invited to take part in the most impactful assignment they could hope for.
SURPRISE! President Obama Drops in on OPC Site
President Barack Obama stopped by the site of the Obama Presidential Center this summer, and based on the reactions shared by the workers he spoke with, the memory is one they will treasure for a lifetime.
Wrapping Up the Urban Alliance Internship with Jayson
When Jayson Hayes steps onto the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) campus this fall, he will have earned an exclusive bragging right on his resume: “Interned with Lakeside Alliance, Builder of the Obama Presidential Center.”
CPS Students Introduced to Carpentry at the Obama Presidential Center
When carpenters need picnic benches, they don’t buy them, they build them. So, when the huddle tent on the Obama Presidential Center site where Lakeside Alliance crew members eat lunch and take breaks needed furniture, Scott Atchison, senior project superintendent (Turner Construction), remembered how he got started in construction.
Onsite Health and Wellness
As a former combat medic in the National Guard, Nayome Gilliard, occupational EMT for Lakeside Alliance at the Obama Presidential Center job site, is used to handling tough situations in stressful environments. She has at her disposal a Mobile Medical Clinic equipped with everything she needs to respond to an emergency. And, while that is her primary reason for being on site, she spends most of her time on preventive care, running wellness checks and medical tests to make sure Lakeside’s employees have a good health baseline.
Construction Safety Week Recap
At Lakeside Alliance, the safety of our workers is our first priority. But anyone who has worked in construction will tell you that everybody must do their part to make a work site as safe as possible.
Subcontractor Spotlight: Concrete Collective
Comprised of II in One Contractors, Trice Construction Company and W.E. O’Neil Construction, Concrete Collective is the concrete subcontractor for the Obama Presidential Center Project.
Environmentally Friendly Renewable Energy to Help Power the OPC
Geothermal energy is a well that never runs dry, tapped from the earth’s inner core where the temperature is as hot as the sun’s surface, about 10,800 degrees Fahrenheit. It will be available as long as the sun shines, or for another five billion years or so. And, geothermal energy, which produces just 0.03% of the emissions of coal or gas, will supplement the traditional heating and cooling systems that power the Obama Presidential Center, substantially reducing the OPC’s carbon footprint.