First Lady Jill Biden To Visit Chicago Tuesday: White House

CHICAGO — First lady Jill Biden is scheduled to visit Chicago Tuesday and Wednesday to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month at a few locations around the city, the White House confirmed.

Last week, President Joe Biden made a visit to the Chicago area to push for businesses to require COVID-19 vaccines for their employees.

Jill Biden's Chicago stops will include the National Museum of Mexican Art and the Arturo Velasquez Institute. The first lady has been traveling for the past two weeks, holding "conversations and listening sessions with the Hispanic community by taking 'charlas' on the road," the White House said. Charla means a talk or conversation in Spanish.

Biden was previously in Kansas City, Kansas, and Allentown, Pennsylvania, as part of the tour.

Rep. Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia, D-IL, will join Jill Biden at the National Museum of Mexican Art Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday morning at the Arturo Velasquez Institute, a satellite campus of the community college Richard J. Daley College.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will also be at the Wednesday stop to talk about equity issues and community colleges.

The museum and the college are in an area of Chicago with a large Hispanic population, according to city data. Neighborhoods in Garcia's district include Pilsen, Little Village, Logan Square and Humboldt Park.

Biden's stops this week will be the first time she has visited Chicago as the first lady. She stopped in Illinois once before in April to speak at an event at Sauk Valley Community College.

Secretary Cardona has been in Illinois twice before as the first Hispanic secretary of education. He joined U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy at Chicago State University in late September to discuss back-to-school efforts.