Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, Baltimore Ravens, UnitedHealthcare and CBS EcoMedia celebrate grand opening of the Park Heights Youth Development Park

BALTIMORE, Nov. 12, 2013 /3BL Media/ – The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, Baltimore Ravens and UnitedHealthcare today celebrated the grand opening of the Park Heights Youth Development Park with a special ribbon-cutting. The construction and development of the park was made possible thanks to funding by UnitedHealthcare through its participation in the CBS EcoMedia WellnessAd program.

UnitedHealthcare’s funding supported additions to the new field at the park including dugouts, metal roofing, goal posts, foul posts and baseball backstops. The multipurpose facility will also serve as an outdoor classroom designed to provide recreational, education and athletic experiences for the community’s at-risk youth. The Park will enable Baltimore City and the Department of Recreation & Parks, who work with the kids in the community every day, to expand their youth recreation leagues teams and offer the new field as a home location for football, lacrosse, softball and baseball teams.

Today’s ribbon-cutting event was hosted by Cal Ripken Jr., Vice Chairman, Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation; Stephanie Rawlins-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore; Richard W. Cass, President, Baltimore Ravens; Jim Cronin, President & CEO, UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-Atlantic; and Paul Polizzotto, Founder and President, CBS EcoMedia.

Prior to the ribbon cutting, UnitedHealthcare volunteers worked all day on facility improvements at the Towanda Boys & Girls Club, which is the organization that will provide programming at the new field.

The day’s events culminated in an exciting youth football clinic led by the Baltimore Ravens. The kids learned the fundamentals of football and participated in fun, instructional drills while learning the importance of teamwork.

“This is a wonderful day for the kids of Park Heights,” said Steve Salem, President, Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. “Thanks to the Clean Up Day volunteers from CBS EcoMedia and UnitedHealthcare’s ‘Do Good. Live Well’ program, we can further provide a positive, supportive environment for every child involved at the Towanda Recreation Center in Baltimore.” 

“We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation to help build a healthier community and provide children in Baltimore a place to play and to live healthier, more active lives,” said Jim Cronin, President & CEO, UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-Atlantic.

The Lower Park Heights area has long battled with high rates of crime and is ranked by the Baltimore Police Department as one of the highest per capita crime areas of the city. For the children living in this community, there are very few safe, clean places for them to go after school to play, learn and be inspired.

“This new field will help kids in this community build character while providing an opportunity for them to play and learn in a safe environment,” said Paul Polizzotto, Founder and President, CBS EcoMedia. “UnitedHealthcare’s funding of the Park Heights Youth Development Park demonstrates the company’s commitment to building healthier communities, and we’re immensely grateful to them for their support of this project.”

This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” employee volunteer initiative, whose mission is to promote health and fitness, prevent hunger and obesity, inspire service and encourage volunteerism in the communities where UnitedHealthcare employees live and work. For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get involved, visit www.DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or “like” Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook. 

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 650,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 38 million people and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

About the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation

The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation uses baseball- and softball-themed programs to help build character and teach critical life lessons to underserved youth residing in America’s most distressed communities. Founded in 2001 by members of the Ripken family in memory of their patriarch Cal, Sr., the Foundation works to create programs that positively impact at-risk youth through active community partnerships with America’s most successful youth service organizations. The Ripken Foundation uses the baseball and softball field to help teach life’s critical lessons such as perseverance, loyalty, nutrition, hard work and leadership to young people residing in disadvantaged communities. Since its inception, the Ripken Foundation has impacted over one million kids in 50 states, St. Thomas and Puerto Rico.

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.
At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002.  In 2010, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media. 

Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide.  In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change. Please visit ecomediacbs.com, like us at facebook.com/EcoMediaCBS or follow us at Twitter.com/EcoMediaCBS

By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities.  EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.