Imagine with me a global urban camp, that each day, all around the world, people come to A Place To Be, to have enriching conversations, to experience a program that inspires them, or even to dialogue about their visions, a project, piece of art, a book, in the company of others. Some drop by to celebrate what they have achieved today. Others are there simply to find refuge in conversations that can support them through daily challenges of life in a safe and healthy meeting place. This collective shares resources, services and information that support the evolution of individuals within.

Offerings
APTB ~ Global Urban Camp offers an array of social, recreational, educational, arts, wellness and development activities and events, including:
Wellness Seminars & Workshops promoting vitality and wholesome practices for living a healthy, abundance lifestyle. Arts programs, including classes and performances.

Individual and group coaching. Social and Recreational activities which provide the opportunity to relax, bond, through exchanging with others in the community. The long-term vision is to have A Place To Be franchises across the globe, and during this Covid period, we are starting with
virtual programming.

BACKGROUND: WHY A PLACE TO BE

(Founder’s Statement)
I am Dr. Byron Johns, a community organizer, and the founder of A PLACE TO BE – a global urban camp, where the wealth of every lived experience is leveraged for the benefit of all within our community.

I have often been told, I am a connector: “Everywhere you go, you create community.” I have done so in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Allentown, Washington, DC and Nairobi, Kenya, Cape Town & Durban South Africa, where I have worked collectively to organize and develop diverse communities of vibrant creatives, corporate & community leaders, and change makers who are making a difference in the world.
We all are communal beings, yet like me, you may have wondered: how do we connect in ways that enrich us all, and leverage the diverse talents and gifts of age, experience, knowledge, creativity, and youth? Over the years, I have been calling the context of our work: A Place To Be (APTB). For me, APTB has been a collective, communal movement -- of creatives, corporate leaders and change makers, where everyone is uplifted and supported to
connect with each other in ways that are enriching and
fortifying.

The philosophical foundation of the A Place To Be, a global urban camp, evolved from years of lived practice in the arenas of transformational work, social emotional learning, conflict and project management, engagement in arts and media, African American culture, wholistic well-being and studies of the contemporary or VUCA (violital, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) Environment.

Today, I am inviting you to come with us as APTB community finds expression in new virtual platforms, and programs that engage the world.

THE JOURNEY...

I believe we are all on a journey to realize greater connection. My own need for community is steeped in Philly’s rich Black Culture during the 60’s & 70’s.

For much of my young life growing up in the hood, I have felt alone, different, somewhat an outcast because I had aspirations to “fulfill my potential.” As an ambitious child, there was little support for futures beyond what was happening in the present. There I witnessed the many tragedies that came from the ills of living only for the day and succumbing to alcoholism and drug addiction, crime and incarceration, abuse and death.

The trauma of living through seeing the wasted lives, helped me to set limits and drove my passion to get out into the world, away from what felt like a trap - no place for my true aspirations to manifest. Yet, the bonds of belonging to a community where everyone knows each other and have a
sense of commonality to a place is a wholesome feeling that I have longed for since leaving my childhood home. So, my innate sensibility has been to cultivate that wholesome space of community with a focus on providing a space for people to fulfill their potential.

This has been what I have done throughout my life: worked with others to provide environments for individuals, primarily staffed by and serving people of African Descent, to be nurtured, inspired, empowered and transformed. Together we have been a community of culture, rich in knowledge, with a distinct flair of style and creativity, where everyone has the commonality of connection, love being together, enjoying social activities, serving, learning, and exploring the world together.

THE EXPERIENCE...