Meet a 35-year-old teaching tech skills to low-income youth through video games

As tech endowment remains in precocious demand, Damon Packwood, laminitis and enforcement manager of Gameheads, a nonprofit teaching tech and video crippled plan skills, is making definite that underserved younker has the tools indispensable to get jobs successful the field.

From a "working-class, low-income community" successful San Francisco, Packwood, 35, worked hard to go the archetypal successful his household to spell to assemblage via the Upward Bound program. He recovered himself doing assemblage entree and younker improvement enactment soon aft graduating, but noticed that determination was 1 happening that each his students were obsessed with. 

"I started noticing that the students were antithetic astir 2007-2008. They were each connected the computer. They were finishing assignments quicker, and we realized that they were getting their resources from the computer," Packwood explains to CNBC Make It. "I was a movie studies major, truthful I knew astir media. But they were truly tapped into media without being media literate, [doing things like] getting caller euphony and uncovering the latest movies online, which was fascinating."

At that moment, Packwood recognized that helium and his colleagues needed to power gears.

"We weren't integer natives, we didn't truly cognize what was going on. And determination was a constituent wherever I realized, 'Oh, my God, we're starting to dependable similar aged people.' I told everybody that we request to alteration what we're doing close present oregon we're going to beryllium obsolete, due to the fact that what [the students] are doing is different. And they said no. So I quit."

Years aboriginal that acquisition inspired him to create a abstraction that gives debased income younker and young radical of colour the grooming and resources indispensable to fortify their IT, production, design, and media skills done video games. 

Founded successful 2015 and based successful Oakland, CA, Gameheads has provided escaped classes, mentorship, equipment, and soft/hardware to hundreds of precocious schoolhouse and college-aged students. 

Here's however Packwood started his entrepreneurship journey, however helium looks astatine partnerships and his proposal for others seeking to bash enactment that they love.

In 2011, Packwood started postgraduate schoolhouse astatine California State University, and helium says the tech diverseness question successful California was conscionable starting to footwear off, citing the launches of Black Girls Code, Van Jones' #YesWeCode, and Impact Oakland.

But teaching tech skills done video games was inactive uncharted territory.

"Nobody was focused connected video games," Packwood says. "And teaching crippled plan to low-income students of colour has worth due to the fact that erstwhile you interruption isolated a video game, you get these antithetic medias. You get dependable design, level design, architecture, coding, task management, creation and animation, and question picture. When you look astatine similar the endowment that radical of colour have, galore of those are our earthy talents."

Packwood says that the impulse to commencement his ain institution came from 1 of his professors.

"It was my prof who said 'you request to bash strength-based learning.' You can't enactment students successful a people and accidental 'you've ne'er looked astatine code, but I'm gonna thatch you however to code.' You've got to enactment them successful a people wherever they're somewhat acquainted with it for you to drawback their attention. And past aft a while, this precise omniscient antheral told maine I should halt complaining and bash thing astir it. So I created Gameheads."

Like galore entrepreneurs, Packwood has been capable to turn his concern by partnering with different brands. Companies similar EA, Oculus, and XBOX are each featured partners connected the Gameheads website. And though immoderate of his partnerships assistance bring successful funding, Packwood says there's truthful overmuch much to these concern relationships than money.

"I spot a batch of radical marque the mistake of wanting to make thing but earlier they do, they privation idiosyncratic to springiness them money. If you're reasoning astir the worth of a concern by a check, you're doing thing wrong."

Packwood encourages entrepreneurs to broaden their presumption of what these types of collaborations tin look like. He says that radical and companies sharing their time, insight, and resources tin besides number arsenic partnerships.

"When radical unpaid their time, there's worth successful that. And determination are immoderate partnerships we person wherever they conscionable springiness america books, laptops that they're not utilizing anymore oregon video crippled consoles that they don't request anymore. That's 200-300 dollars [in equipment] for a young idiosyncratic who's trying to get into gaming, but doesn't person the resources."

"I would archer radical to grow the mode they deliberation astir partnerships. Most radical conscionable privation a spouse to constitute them a check, oregon thatch a class. If you expand, you'll find yourself making much partnerships. And past that's erstwhile the backing volition commencement coming in, due to the fact that radical present bask moving with you due to the fact that they spot the impact."

For Packwood, turning his passionateness for younker improvement into a vocation was a no-brainer. His proposal for radical seeking happiness successful their nonrecreational lives is to "do the happening that you're conscionable going to beryllium doing anyway."

"I'll spell to radical and say, 'look, bash you privation to spouse connected this? Because if you don't, that's cool, I'm gonna bash it anyway. It's going to work, truthful bash you privation to beryllium a portion of it oregon not?' If you attack thing with that benignant of passion, you're ever going to bask yourself."

And connected whether oregon not helium feels similar Gameheads has "made it," Packwood says determination are a fewer announcements to travel successful 2023, and if they get made, "we volition person established ourselves."

"But, bash I personally consciousness similar I've made it? Yes. I've got an astonishing family. I emotion my job. My woman is awesome. My girl is the cutest happening successful the world. I've got a video crippled halfway filled with toys that erstwhile I was 10, I was fortunate if I had 1 of those things. And I get to spot kids travel successful and person amusive with each of these toys and worldly that we have. So I can't accidental Gameheads has made it, but I cognize I have."

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