Gameheads Empowers Youth of Color to Pursue Careers in Gaming

Making video games, getting career guidance, Building connections that last a lifetime is what Gameheads students strive to achieve. This non-profit provides mentoring, teaching resources, and mentorship for young gamers making their next generation of videogames.

Many paths to a career as a gamer are still not accessible to young people of color, or from lower-income families. This could be due to the lack of resources and connections. To address this issue, Damon Packwood, Executive Director of Gameheads was born in Oakland.

Gameheads’ program combines video game design and development, education and career counseling, industry exposure, and hands-on training. Over the course of a year, students learn all aspects of video game development: coding, design, project management, and teamwork – skills that are invaluable not only for working in the video game industry, but for a career in a variety of fields. The program will provide students with a completed game or prototype to include in their portfolio and an experienced mentor to help them navigate their way in the industry.

And Gameheads’ methods are a proven success: many Gameheads students have gone on to receive paid internships or employment at well-renowned video game studios, and several projects created out of Gameheads — like the stealth platformer Camino — will be available for purchase in 2023.

Last year, Xbox Publishing — the team working with independent development studios to release first-party Xbox games — gave $100,000 to Gameheads to help them invest in resources for trans, queer and other minority-gender students of color. Gameheads has increased its reach to young girls, women and youths with gender diversity by acquiring these funds. Because women of color and LGBTQIA+ people of color are vastly underrepresented throughout the gaming industry, Gameheads’ goal is to ensure that young people from these cohorts will have the support they will need to thrive in their careers in the near- and long-term future.

Executive Director Damon Packwood explained that as part of Gameheads’ efforts for inclusion, the team will hire a full-time Program Manager who will focus on this new initiative and recruit a therapist who specializes in affirming care for trans and queer youth of color.

These are just a few of many long-standing relationships between Gameheads, Xbox and Gameheads. The Xbox Publishing team currently has a Gameheads alumnus (Narrative designer Casey Ramos), as well as a mentor and board member (Design director Marcus Montgomery). They see the teams’ collaboration as a perfect fit because of its emphasis on empowering students to achieve not only their career goals, but also their creative ambitions.

If you’re interested in helping Gameheads realize its vision of a more inclusive gaming industry, visit the Gameheads TwitterCheck out this site for information about student games that are coming soon. Gameheads is also looking for Xbox gamers to donate Rewards points.