9K Diamond Discovery | From Gymnast To Champion | Free Calls For Inmates

As a young woman, U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame Wendy Hilliard had to fight against discrimination in the sport—an experience that inspired her to become a champion for the Black Community. Since 1996, her foundation has helped over 20,000 young people from Harlem’s underserved communities to access affordable gymnastics training.

Keely Cat-Wells thought the answer to increase disability representation in the entertainment industry was to help actors with disabilities get their break by starting a talent agency. But structural barriers on set and stage remain a challenge, so she has now set her eye on a more ambitious goal: the launch of film studio designed with accessibility in mind.

Founders Valentine Osakwe and Zerryn Gines launched their customer insight and analytics platform Peep Connect in January, just before the world plunged into crisis, but they are still going forward thanks to the support of the Tech For Black Founders initiative—and they’re pay it forward, too, providing their services for free to small businesses for the rest of 2020.

Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos first announced his intention to build a network of preschools in November 2018. Nearly two years later, the first Bezos Academy is due to open on October 19, providing free services for children coming from Seattle’s low income families.

Lucky Arkansas man Kevin Kinard made the rare discovery of a 9-carat diamond while searching at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. It’s the second-largest found in that location, but Kinard initially thought it was just a piece of glass.

As studies suggest inmates who keep in touch with their families and friends do better after release, a new nonprofit called Ameelio is working to connect prison inmates with their loved ones for free—challenging the $1.2-billion-a-year prison phone industry in the process.