Business
Rooted in 38126: ESports and video gaming breaks ground in ‘Soulsville’
NASHVILLE PRIDE — It’s a video gamer’s dream come true: a state-of-the-art video game lounge, complete with an eSports arena, eSports Academy, a student video game development training center, entrepreneurial training center, retail store, workspace and financial literacy center.
By Pride Newsdesk
It’s a video gamer’s dream come true: a state-of-the-art video game lounge, complete with an eSports arena, eSports Academy, a student video game development training center, entrepreneurial training center, retail store, workspace and financial literacy center.
And it’s coming to Memphis, specifically Soulsville U.S.A., located in ZIP code 38126 and known as one of the nation’s poorest areas. A symbolic groundbreaking spectacle this past Saturday (announced that the LeMoyne-Owen College Community Development Corporation (LOC CDC) would build a franchised BraveDog Video Gaming Innovation Center (BDIC).
Residents, community supporters and elected officials converged on the site and cheered the highly anticipated project that will be housed across the street from the historic Four Way Grill at the corner of Mississippi Blvd. and Walker Ave.
“Although this is the poorest ZIP code in the state, it has endured because of the energy, the fight and goodwill of its people,” said Jeffrey Higgs, the project manager and executive director.
“They ran Ida B. Wells off this same corner. Isaac Hayes and Maurice White and Al Green used to hang out over at the Stax Recording Studio. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ate at the Four Way Grill and our beloved college, LeMoyne-Owen College, is a 156-year-old institution. There is a lot of history here,” Higgs said.
“This project is about technology, change and our young people. They must always know we care about them and we care about their future.”
BraveDog Games CEO Dustin Mack, 28, co-founded the company with Isiah Reese.
“We as a company are ecstatic about this partnership, and we applaud executive director Higgs and LOC CDC for the amazing work they do in the community,” said Mack. “We envision LOC CDC and Greater Memphis becoming a catalyst for innovation within the video games and eSports industries. As a company, we are all fully committed to this initiative.”
The BDIC will be housed in nearly 2,000 square feet and is projected to have an estimated $15 million economic impact in South Memphis and the downtown areas.
“This is fantasy turning into reality,” said Mack. “We appreciate those individuals and corporate citizens who have already reached out to support this project financially. We invite others to join as well. Help us to save our young people.”
“I was a South Carolina kid who only had a single parent,” said Reese. “What food we did have, Mother would divide it between my sister and I while she would drink water. People ask, ‘Why do you grind so hard?’ I just tell them that I work so hard because I can still hear my mother’s stomach growling through the night.
“LeMoyne-Owen and this community means something special to us. LOC gave me my first job as an adjunct professor. I will never forget it.”
Reese cited youngsters as the reason why the games lounge is so significant.
“We can’t take them to Silicon Valley, so Silicon Valley will come to them.”
LOC CDC president Michael Minor praised the “spirit of cooperation and pure joy” from young people at the school who were on hand to cheer the plans for a gaming lounge.
“This facility will bring others into the community who don’t look like us,” said Minor.
There are just no losers here. The excitement of our young people means so much. This will be our own community place where we can gather and just fellowship with one another.
“One of BraveDog’s most important next steps is to bring together storytellers from racially diverse backgrounds to develop high quality video games that accurately and authentically reflect this community.”
Mack admitted that the concept of earning six figures seems unrealistic for children and teens that live on SNAP benefits and welfare.
“One of the most important ways to change the mindset of those who live in poverty is to help them see a way out of poverty and give them the tools necessary to build a better economic future,” Mack said.
“We will help facilitate these possibilities by working to get community residents on the payroll of large tech corporations as well as assist local entrepreneurs become prosperous business owners.”
This article originally appeared in the Nashville Pride.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of June 18 – 24, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 18 – 24, 2025

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Activism
OPINION: California’s Legislature Has the Wrong Prescription for the Affordability Crisis — Gov. Newsom’s Plan Hits the Mark
Last month, Gov. Newsom included measures in his budget that would encourage greater transparency, accountability, and affordability across the prescription drug supply chain. His plan would deliver real relief to struggling Californians. It would also help expose the hidden markups and practices by big drug companies that push the prices of prescription drugs higher and higher. The legislature should follow the Governor’s lead and embrace sensible, fair regulations that will not raise the cost of medications.

By Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook
As a pastor and East Bay resident, I see firsthand how my community struggles with the rising cost of everyday living. A fellow pastor in Oakland recently told me he cuts his pills in half to make them last longer because of the crushing costs of drugs.
Meanwhile, community members are contending with skyrocketing grocery prices and a lack of affordable healthcare options, while businesses are being forced to close their doors.
Our community is hurting. Things have to change.
The most pressing issue that demands our leaders’ attention is rising healthcare costs, and particularly the rising cost of medications. Annual prescription drug costs in California have spiked by nearly 50% since 2018, from $9.1 billion to $13.6 billion.
Last month, Gov. Newsom included measures in his budget that would encourage greater transparency, accountability, and affordability across the prescription drug supply chain. His plan would deliver real relief to struggling Californians. It would also help expose the hidden markups and practices by big drug companies that push the prices of prescription drugs higher and higher. The legislature should follow the Governor’s lead and embrace sensible, fair regulations that will not raise the cost of medications.
Some lawmakers, however, have advanced legislation that would drive up healthcare costs and set communities like mine back further.
I’m particularly concerned with Senate Bill (SB) 41, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a carbon copy of a 2024 bill that I strongly opposed and Gov. Newsom rightly vetoed. This bill would impose significant healthcare costs on patients, small businesses, and working families, while allowing big drug companies to increase their profits.
SB 41 would impose a new $10.05 pharmacy fee for every prescription filled in California. This new fee, which would apply to millions of Californians, is roughly five times higher than the current average of $2.
For example, a Bay Area family with five monthly prescriptions would be forced to shoulder about $500 more in annual health costs. If a small business covers 25 employees, each with four prescription fills per month (the national average), that would add nearly $10,000 per year in health care costs.
This bill would also restrict how health plan sponsors — like employers, unions, state plans, Medicare, and Medicaid — partner with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate against big drug companies and deliver the lowest possible costs for employees and members. By mandating a flat fee for pharmacy benefit services, this misguided legislation would undercut your health plan’s ability to drive down costs while handing more profits to pharmaceutical manufacturers.
This bill would also endanger patients by eliminating safety requirements for pharmacies that dispense complex and costly specialty medications. Additionally, it would restrict home delivery for prescriptions, a convenient and affordable service that many families rely on.
Instead of repeating the same tired plan laid out in the big pharma-backed playbook, lawmakers should embrace Newsom’s transparency-first approach and prioritize our communities.
Let’s urge our state legislators to reject policies like SB 41 that would make a difficult situation even worse for communities like ours.
About the Author
Rev. Dr. VanHook is the founder and pastor of The Community Church in Oakland and the founder of The Charis House, a re-entry facility for men recovering from alcohol and drug abuse.
Antonio Ray Harvey
Air Quality Board Rejects Two Rules Written to Ban Gas Water Heaters and Furnaces
The proposal would have affected 17 million residents in Southern California, requiring businesses, homeowners, and renters to convert to electric units. “We’ve gone through six months, and we’ve made a decision today,” said SCAQMD board member Carlos Rodriguez. “It’s time to move forward with what’s next on our policy agenda.”

By Antonio Ray Harvey
California Black Media
Two proposed rules to eliminate the usage of gas water heaters and furnaces by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) in Southern California were rejected by the Governing Board on June 6.
Energy policy analysts say the board’s decision has broader implications for the state.
With a 7-5 vote, the board decided not to amend Rules 1111 and 1121 at the meeting held in Diamond Bar in L.A. County.
The proposal would have affected 17 million residents in Southern California, requiring businesses, homeowners, and renters to convert to electric units.
“We’ve gone through six months, and we’ve made a decision today,” said SCAQMD board member Carlos Rodriguez. “It’s time to move forward with what’s next on our policy agenda.”
The AQMD governing board is a 13-member body responsible for setting air quality policies and regulations within the South Coast Air Basin, which covers areas in four counties: Riverside County, Orange County, San Bernardino County and parts of Los Angeles County.
The board is made up of representatives from various elected offices within the region, along with members who are appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, and Senate Rules Committee.
Holly J. Mitchell, who serves as a County Supervisor for the Second District of Los Angeles County, is a SCAQMD board member. She supported the amendments, but respected the board’s final decision, stating it was a “compromise.”
“In my policymaking experience, if you can come up with amended language that everyone finds some fault with, you’ve probably threaded the needle as best as you can,” Mitchell said before the vote. “What I am not okay with is serving on AQMD is making no decision. Why be here? We have a responsibility to do all that we can to get us on a path to cleaner air.”
The rules proposed by AQMD, Rule 1111 and Rule 1121, aim to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from natural gas-fired furnaces and water heaters.
Rule 1111 and Rule 1121 were designed to control air pollution, particularly emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx).
Two days before the Governing Board’s vote, gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa asked SCAQMD to reject the two rules.
Villaraigosa expressed his concerns during a Zoom call with the Cost of Living Council, a Southern California organization that also opposes the rules. Villaraigosa said the regulations are difficult to understand.
“Let me be clear, I’ve been a big supporter of AQMD over the decades. I have been a believer and a fighter on the issue of climate change my entire life,” Villaraigosa said. “But there is no question that what is going on now just doesn’t make sense. We are engaging in regulations that are put on the backs of working families, small businesses, and the middle class, and we don’t have the grid for all this.”
Rules 1111 and 1121 would also establish manufacturer requirements for the sale of space and water heating units that meet low-NOx and zero-NOx emission standards that change over time, according to SCAQMD.
The requirements also include a mitigation fee for NOx-emitting units, with an option to pay a higher mitigation fee if manufacturers sell more low-NOx water heating and space units.
Proponents of the proposed rules say the fees are designed to incentivize actions that reduce emissions.
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