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From left to right: Former Boston Celtics Champion, M.L. Car;
David Kristopovich, Senior Account Executive of Lenovo;
Barbara Hall, R.W. Brown Community Center Director;
Arlene F. Bell, Esq., Caring People Alliance Executive Director;
Dan Calista, Vynamic Founder;
Jennifer Braxton, Public Relations Manager at IKEA South Philadelphia;
Sonny Hill, Founder of the Sonny Hill Basketball League.
New Vynamic Learning Center opens in North Philadelphia
The Vynamic Learning Center was launched by WARM2Kids President & CEO and former Boston Celtics champion, M. L. Carr and Dan Calista, Vynamic Founder & CEO. All furnishings for the new Philadelphia-based prototype were exclusively sourced through the IKEA store.
The WARM2Kids Learning Center Program is a national effort to provide state-of-the-art computers as well as a self-sustaining social and emotional development program for youth through the WARM2Kids web site (www.warm2kids.com). WARM2Kids offers resources tailored to engage “teens” and “tweens” in the process of positive role model behavior development. Other WARM2Kids Learning Center Programs are open at community centers in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island and Texas.
The “Vynamic Learning Center” is open to all R.W. Brown Community Center members and participants. As with all WARM2Kids Learning Centers, the facility features an engaging computer-based learning environment focusing on content from expert approved resources and celebrity role models as well as social/emotional development programs from the WARM2Kids website (www.warm2kids.com). This center also represents a new prototype for WARM2Kids Learning Centers with newly designed and comfortably furnished gathering areas for group and individual activities including homework help, tutoring, teen development programs and activities aimed at developing entrepreneurial skills.
Vynamic’s decision to sponsor and fund Pennsylvania’s first WARM2Kids Learning Center came following a meeting with the firm’s founder, Dan Calista, had with M. L. Carr. Calista explains: “The purpose of creating a new model of consulting, as we’ve done at Vynamic, was to build a culture and a way of doing business that reinforces personal and professional empowerment. When we began looking at opportunities to support our community in a truly ‘Vynamic’ way, we found a perfect match in WARM2Kids’ emphasis on empowerment through role-modeling.”
Calista also points out that the timing of the center’s grand opening was purposefully designed to coincide with the end of the school year. “We’re offering an engaging, friendly and welcoming space for teens to gather during the summer months and beyond.”
“At a time when positive and productive programs and activities for kids in Philadelphia are disappearing, our community centers offer a safe haven for children and teenagers who don’t want to be out on the streets, exposed to the threat of trouble,” said Arlene Bell, Caring People Alliance President and CEO. “We are grateful and pleased to welcome the WARM2Kids/Vynamic Learning Center to R.W. Brown and expand the range of activities we offer that teach, motivate and inspire our kids.”
"Working with Vynamic to create a hip and inviting space was a natural fit for IKEA. We believe that young people should be inspired by their environment," says Jennifer Braxton, public relations manager at IKEA South Philadelphia. "Using IKEA furnishings at R.W. Brown, and more centers to come, we hope will encourage these young people to do and give their very best."
In making the commitment to partner with WARM2Kids, the entire Philadelphia-based Vynamic team was immediately involved in the process—meeting with various individuals who run the center and the teens themselves and participating in R.W. Brown events—in order to create a program (and environment) that readily meets R.W. Brown’s needs. The opportunity has been so inspiring that one of Vynamic’s executives, Scott Shohen, has even joined the Caring People Alliance Board of Directors.
WARM2Kids President and CEO, M. L. Carr, with the support of other socially conscious individuals and corporations, plans to drastically expand the WARM2Kids Learning Center Program. “Our goal is to launch the program in twenty-five plus states by year-end so that millions of youth, families and program directors can use the site to stay connected with each other,” says Carr.
About Vynamic
Vynamic LLC is a Philadelphia-based management consulting firm that partners with its clients to lead key strategic and operational initiatives. Founded in 2002 by a former Accenture executive the firm works in a broad array of industries and sectors, primarily in the Fortune 500 arena, providing project leadership services such as systems implementation, vendor selection and management, process design, strategic planning, and organizational change. Vynamic’s transparent approach, communicative style and collaborative nature are all hallmarks of its reputation. More information is available at www.vynamic.com.
About WARM2Kids
We’re All Role Models 2 Kids (WARM2Kids) is an online information resource and celebrity role model community. The goal of the organization is to eliminate “silent suffering” by providing teens and young adults with safe, reliable information about the issues that concern them. The WARM2Kids Learning Center Program provides free computer access to teens and the community. The program connects socially responsible companies, celebrities and individuals with community and youth organizations to impact the social and emotional development of today’s youth and families through the use of the WARM2Kids website (www.warm2kids.com).
About IKEA
Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered a wide range of home furnishings of good design and function, at low prices so the majority of the people can afford them. As part of this commitment to create a better everyday life for the many people, IKEA incorporates environmentally and socially responsible efforts into day-to-day business, strives to be an employer of choice, and continually supports initiatives that benefit causes such as children and the environment. The unique and family friendly IKEA shopping experience currently can be found at more than 250 IKEA stores in 35 countries, including 34 in the U.S. Stores are being planned in: Brooklyn, NY; Charlotte, NC; Somerville, MA; and Tampa, FL. For more information visit the IKEA Web site at www.IKEA-USA.com.
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