WE Global Learning Centre

Applied Electronics helps convert 43,000 square feet heritage building into WE Charity’s new Global Learning Centre and headquarters

WE (formerly Free The Children) is a youth-empowerment organization that helps more young people, in more communities, to make a meaningful impact on global issues such as homelessness, sustainability and water security.

The WE Global Learning Centre has two main purposes: to give students around the world the tools and support they need to create positive social change, and to support educators in delivering service-based curricula through the We Schools program.

WE approached Applied Electronics to provide consultation, design and integration services in converting the Toronto heritage building into a world-renowned innovative learning space for children located anywhere from across the globe.

Applied Electronics designed, supplied and integrated audio visual and broadcast technologies into the lobby, the multi-purpose theatre with a dedicated AV control centre, a live broadcast production centre, boardrooms, meeting rooms, seminar rooms, and other unique collaboration spaces throughout the building.

The WE Global Learning Centre features:

• Technology that supports our delivery of cutting-edge leadership training and professional development to rural and marginalized communities, including Indigenous and underserved youth and educators
   
• Digital classrooms with built-in functionality to connect WE Schools across Canada, the United States and the UK, and around the world, allowing interactive learning experiences with shared educational content
   
• Best-of-class content will be curated and incorporated into digital and print curricular resources, crowd-sourced from coast to coast
   
• Expert resources for educators to support teachers around the world and faculty in residence, embedded within the in-house curriculum team, to bring expertise in connecting service-learning with educational outcomes, particularly with Canada’s diverse communities in mind (including new Canadian youth, at-risk and Indigenous youth)

WE celebrated the grand opening of the WE Global Learning Centre on September 27, 2017. The ceremony presentation was held in the Centre's 200-seat Hartley T. Richardson Emphatheatre, and it included speeches from Princess Beatrice York, celebrities, donors, and corporate partners, as well as a live multi-location Skype session with students from London (UK), Pembina (Manitoba, Canada), Chicago (USA), Kenya, and Ecuador.