CELEBRATE DIAMONDS ON THE NEWLY LAUNCHED D.E.F. WEBSITE

DIAMOND EMPOWERMENT FUND

LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE CELEBRATING DIAMONDS

The Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F) today launched its new consumer-facing global website, diamondsdogood.com. Built in partnership with The Condé Nast Media Group, the site showcases the beauty, mystic and emotional resonance of diamonds and diamond jewelry, as well as the story behind the diamonds: how diamond revenues help drive positive change in communities where the industry does business.

“There has been a void in communication of the vast amount of good the industry does,” says D.E.F co-founder, Dr. Benjamin Chavis. “This website will help fill that void.” 

DiamondsDoGood.com acknowledges the aggregate ongoing good of the global diamond and diamond jewelry industry. It is a real time interactive repository of the collective panoply of the good works and impacts of the industry. Initial programs profiled on the site include: how miner Rio Tinto brings water to rural villages in India; journeys of empowerment through education by three of D.E.F’s student scholars; enterprise-building in South Africa supported by The De Beers Group of Companies; educating women on
maternal and children’s health in rural China, from retailer Chow Tai Fook; and giving back to children in need in the United States and globally, through Jewelers for Children.

The site takes the visitor through a gradual journey from the charitable giving and corporate social responsibility programs the diamond and jewelry industry embraces, to the origins of diamonds, to how they are interwoven in our lives. Says D.E.F co-founder, Russell Simmons, “Through a transparent diamond you can see an empowered community”.

Phyllis Bergman, D.E.F. president adds, “This new website shares the good news and great ideas surrounding diamonds in our lives.”

The website is supported through social media channels Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Additional programs from the industry will be featured throughout 2015. Development and the first phase of the website was made possible through a grant from the JCK Industry Fund.

The Diamond Empowerment Fund: is a global non-profit based in New York City and co-founded by Russell Simmons and leaders in the diamond industry in 2007 to empower diamond communities around the world.  Its beneficiaries include: CIDA City Campus, 

South Africa’s first non-profit university to offer a four-year business degree.  CIDA has an 80% employment rate among graduates; the African Leadership Academy, a university preparatory school in Johannesburg, South Africa, founded on the belief that ethical leadership is the key to sustainable development on the continent and drawing students from all 54 countries in Africa, and the Botswana Top Achievers program that provides the top high school students countrywide the opportunity to study at a university of their choice worldwide. Graduates then return to Botswana to contribute to its economic, social and political development.                   www.diamondempowerment.org.