The publisher of the NBA 2K video game series is making renovations to basketball courts so kids can practice their IRL moves in cities around the country, including Baltimore.
On Tuesday, 2K announced a new foundation arm and corresponding program to refurbish a dozen basketball courts, complete with environmentally-safe upgrades and resources to create basketball tournaments. 2K Foundations is also making tech upgrades in community centers to enable STEM education programming, and partnering with Microsoft to provide video game consoles.
“Basketball has been so good to us, and we want to pay it forward to the communities that need it most, by helping to enhance the lives of youth both on the court and in the classroom,” Jason Argent, Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations for NBA 2K, said in a statement. (Closer to Maryland’s video game community, 2K also publishes Sid Meier’s Civilization series and XCOM).
Northeast Baltimore is home to one of the projects that has already been completed. A court adjacent to the Goodnow Community Center in the Frankford neighborhood was refurbished.
2K released a video showing the transformation, with appearances from Goodnow Community Center Director Gloria Jenkins, City Councilman Brandon Scott and Volo City Kids.
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