Private meeting marks Obama’s public return to Chicago

April 23 (UPI) — Former President Barack Obama returned to Chicago on Sunday, the day before his first major public appearance since leaving the White House.

Obama met privately on the South Side with participants in a job-training program created by Arne Duncan, his longtime friend and former education secretary.

Obama spokesmen Kevin Lewis said the 44th president asked how gang and gun violence can be reduced in a city where the murder rate more than doubled in 2016.

On Monday, Obama is scheduled to speak at the University of Chicago about civic engagement and community organizing.

The event will be a homecoming for Obama, who grew up on the city’s South Side and was once a law professor at the university.

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