by Launched in April of 2019, El Nido’s GRYD Gaming Group is off to a great start at our Pacoima FamilySource Center. The class is part of El Nido’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development program (GRYD). The goal of the class is to utilize something that our youth are already engaged in, as a vehicle to help build “soft” skills and community collaboration. We encourage youth to consider entering this billion dollar a year field as potential creators of content.
El Nido youth are provided with a state-of-the-art laptop that they learn to manage and navigate. This technology might not otherwise have been available to them. They learn about set-up and navigating through various platforms and updating software in order to play the games they select.
José M. Beltrán, MA, El Nido GRYD Program Manager, says; “We see youth that otherwise might not interact with others now form relationships while they are working together strategically or to simply playing games for fun.”
Beltran also notes; “the gaming industry as a whole, just like the tech field in general, has not encouraged young women. We have managed to include our first two girls successfully, which helps the boys examine their bias about females in esports.”
