Those who have been following along with corporate news in recent weeks may already be aware of president Donald Trump’s ongoing initiative to bring massive financial changes to the tech industry. The head of state and 34-time convicted felon previously announced multi-billion dollar deals with fintech giants including OpenAI, SoftBank and more. The collaboration, which has been titled Stargate , has drawn eyes from a number of tech industry heads, including Apple’s Tim Cook . Now, according to recent reports, Cook himself has announced an effort to invest $500 billion back into the United States economy, with specific plans to hire 20,000 new U.S. based employees over the next five years. Though Apple has always been at the forefront of American engineering and design, this announcement has come as quite a shock to some investors, considering Tim Cook’s outspoken stance on upholding DEI initiatives , in stark contrast to Trump’s demands. Clearly, Cook is able to compartmentalize...

A small, private Mississippi school that opened nearly three years ago with just six students has grown to approximately 50 in grades prekindergarten through 12th. Leora Hooper founded Abundance Educational Academy in a neglected storefront in Yazoo City, according to The New York Times. She had taught special education at a local public school and sixth-grade social studies at another. However, Hooper’s work in the impoverished community and struggling public school system took its toll and she quit in 2021. Since she left in the middle of the school year, her public-school teaching license was suspended. Inspired to start a new chapter and offer students an alternative as well, she started Abundance, becoming its executive director. Hooper wears many additional hats too: She is a math, social studies, and language arts teacher, an after-school tutor, the registrar, a guidance counselor, co-director of the drum line, a janitor, and receptionist. “I was born to do it,” Hooper said...

Farmer, Patrick Brown, has reclaimed the land once owned by his great-great-grandfather, who was also enslaved there. Currently, Patrick serves as the director of farmer inclusion for the social justice nonprofit Nature for Justice, reports Bitter Southerner. He is responsible for ensuring that $1.7 million in funding is allocated to farmers of color in North Carolina by 2029. Brown also serves on the board of the Eva Clayton Rural Food Institute, an organization established to combat food inequities. Patrick’s passion for farming is rooted in his upbringing. At the age of 9, he was already working on his family’s farm in North Carolina, helping to load tobacco. “It would take us about nine hours to fill up two barns,” he told the outlet. His father, Arthur, played a key role in igniting his interest in farming. He passed down stories of their family’s four-generation legacy in agriculture. “He was educating me,” Patrick explained, according to Bitter Southerner. “He would say,...

Goodr has opened a new grocery store in Atlanta, GA. The Atlanta-based company, which combines technology and logistics to combat food waste and fight food insecurity, is the brainchild of Jasmine Crowe-Houston. “[Goodr] uses technology to solve hunger — that’s our big focus. I think we are taking a radically different approach to how this country solves hunger and food waste,” Crowe-Houston told AFROTECH™ in a 2021 interview. “A lot of times people say to me, ‘How is this a business? How can this be profitable?’ But, the main thing is people have to understand that billions of dollars get spent every year on food insecurity and trying to make sure people have access to food. But, it typically only goes to the same organizations.” She added, “And what we’re trying to do is come in and kind of disrupt that and say, ‘Listen, we’re getting a lot wrong about solving hunger if we’re always going to give money to the same people. We’re going to keep on having the same results.’ Give Goodr...

Kevin Burnett has transitioned from the football field to help families create wealth. Burnett, an Inglewood, CA native, was drafted in 2005 as a 42th draft pick in the second round to the Dallas Mavericks, according to ESPN. He was signed to a 4-year deal valued at $3.31 million with the team, which included a $1.15 million signing bonus and $1.15 million guaranteed, Spotrac notes. Burnett played for four teams throughout his career, ultimately retiring with the Oakland Raiders in 2014. He earned a total of $20.57 million. In retirement, Burnett took some time to water into his wife and four kids, per Equities.com. He became more immersed in his children’s worlds, which also included sports. This led him to coach his older kids’ football and baseball team, sparking a newfound purpose. “Hey, this is where I see my purpose,” Burnett explained. “It’s where I see my angle.” In 2020, he secured a position at McArthur High School in Hollywood, FL, as a football coach. With poverty and...

Jasmine Crowe-Houston is scaling her efforts to combat food insecurity. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, she is the founder of the Atlanta, GA-based startup Goodr, which leverages technology to reduce food waste and distribute it to those in need. “[Goodr] uses technology to solve hunger — that’s our big focus. I think we are taking a radically different approach to how this country solves hunger and food waste,” she previously told AFROTECH™ in an interview. “A lot of times people say to me, ‘How is this a business? How can this be profitable?’ But the main thing is people have to understand that billions of dollars get spent every year on food insecurity and trying to make sure people have access to food. But, it typically only goes to the same organizations.” She continued, “And what we’re trying to do is come in and kind of disrupt that and say, ‘Listen, we’re getting a lot wrong about solving hunger if we’re always going to give money to the same people. We’re going to keep on...

Detroit, MI, has done it again, and it’s only right that one of the Blackest cities in America becomes the home to the first all-Black-led sports radio station in the nation! Sports Rap Radio on AM 1270 made its debut on the airwaves in Motor City on June 4, and not only does it feature all Black hosts, but the radio station is also Black-owned, Blavity reports. “[This is] history-making,” said former Detroit sports anchor Rob Parker, per CBS News. “[It’s] groundbreaking, [and] we just believe that the time has come.” In addition to Parker, who is responsible for helping to bring this vision to life, the history-making team of co-owners includes Parker’s longtime friend Dave Kenney as well as athletes, former NBA player BJ Armstrong and University of Michigan wide receiver Maurice “Moe” Ways. “Moe was the missing piece. I needed somebody young, smart, from the city,” Parker told the outlet. The two have kept in touch since they first met, when Ways was a football star at Detroit...

Ancestry.com has been helping families trace their roots for nearly three decades. Now, the genealogy company is using technology to further assist Black Americans in discovering their ancestry. On June 11, 2024, Ancestry announced the publication of a free collection of 38,000 newspaper articles related to more than 183,000 enslaved people in the U.S. from 1788 to 1867, according to a press release. Ancestry’s mission in launching the new newspaper article collection is to help descendants expand their family history research and discover connections. “Greater access to these records on Ancestry will enhance understanding of how chattel slavery and the forced movement of enslaved people became normalized in the United States,” said Dr. Karcheik Sims-Alvarado, assistant professor of Africana studies at Morehouse College, per the press release. “This collection is invaluable for providing descendants of enslaved individuals with insights into their ancestral histories and their...