"aquamanan: the e lost kingdomos too. anand you're a about to meet a e bunch ofof them. sosome of ththeir inspiriring s mighght even makake you ugugly . and d that's o okay. just feel itit.. feelel all thehe goodness. because this is "cnn heroes." ooh. ♪ >> announcer: from the american museum of natural history in new york city, this is the 17th annual "cnn heroes: an all-star tribute." honoring everyday people changing the world. please welcome your hosts, anderson cooper and laura coates. [ cheers and applause ] >> and thank you and welcome to the 17th annual "cnn heroes: an all-star tribute." we are coming to you live from the milstein hall of ocean life at the american museum of natural history in new york. and we want to welcome our viewers watching around the world. and i want to say a very special welcome to cnn's laura coates. we are so glad you're here. >> thank you. [ cheers and applause ] wow! i'm glad to be here. i had a prom under a whale once and i was alone, so i'm glad i'm here with you now. >> wow, that's quite a story. >> it is. we'll talk later. >> all right. >> it's an honor to be here, everyone. i have so admired heroes for so many years. this year's honorees are absolutely incredible. they care for veterans, repair our oceans, assist the needy, bring confidence to our schools and our kids in forgotten neighborhoods. and they do so much more. they have found ingenious ways to do their bit of good where they are. and tonight is truly all about the people who poke holes in the darkness so that the light gets in and reminds us all that there is hope and that change is always possible. in other words, you've had quite the gig you have not told me about all this time. >> it's a great gig. 17 years. cnn has given each of our top 10 heroes a global platform to share their work and $10,000. now, later tonight one of the honorees will be named the 2023 cnn hero of the year. they'll receive an additional $100,000 and more. now, tonight not only are we honoring our top 10 heroes but we're going to be presenting our first cnn heroes legacy award for a lifetime of service. we'll reveal that recipient later in the show. and as always, we are just very grateful to have all the artists who have donated their time to honor our heroes. >> yes. absolutely. [ cheers and applause ] you know, this year given the state of the world, you can imagine where we are right now, most of us have probably searched for a small quiet place to maybe do a little bit of ugly crying. maybe in our cars, our empty stairwells, wolf blitzer's office. it's a therapy place. on my couch right now. normally it's me. but that's fine. he really knows how to listen. whatever room he's in is situational. >> i did not know he provided that service. >> he does. the d.c. crowd. >> tonight if you cry it will likely be because of the joy our heroes create with their work. so let's get started. >> ooh. i want to say this line. sorry, anderson. let's meet our first hero. >> in the united states 61% of underresourced children have no books in the home and only 17% of black fourth-graders are proficient in reading. >> i have a fourth-grader at home. this is amazing to think about. to share how our hero is changing these numbers for black boys in particular, please welcome the star of the brand new film "american fiction," jeffrey wright. [ applause ] >> thank you. reading is freedom. it unlocks the world's possibilities and a child's potential. alan irby's mother instilled this value in her son. she was an elementary school teacher and on weekends she'd call alvin to the kitchen table for reading lessons. he didn't like that much. but because of her care he read well. in high school he was bored in his regular english class, doing spelling tests and reading short stories, so he asked to join the advanced class. and there he fell in love with language reading classics. he also noticed that in his new classroom the students were all white. while in his regular class they were black and brown. this upset him and pushed him toward his life's work. he followed in his mother's footsteps and became a teacher. and in 2013 he launched barbershop books to encourage black boys to fall in love with reading as he did. to date he's put more than 50,000 books in 250 barbershops, reaching more than 10,000 boys. they're getting their cuts, they're shaping their fades. they're bonding with mentors. they're seeing the possibilities in the world. and they're doing it in the heart of their community, the barbershop.. ♪ > barbershohops are a cultur center f for black communititie. evevery montnth no matter whwho are you'u've got to o go get a . i wawas s teaching f first grad the e bronx anand i was getting haircucut and one of my studene cameme into the babarbershop. hehe is gettining g antsy and h looking g bored. he s should be p practicing g h readining. but i i didn't havave a book. barbershshop books inspipires b boys and o other v vulnerable e chilildren to reread for fun. >> what's s up, maman? how are yoyou doing? >> we inststall a a chchild-fri readining space inin the barber. we litererally a ask litittle b boys, , what do you u like to r? and ththen we buy y the e boboo. anand then thohose are the book that we diststribute to our nanational netetwork of barbere. >> i i just wantnt to like s sh sosome tips anand strategigies t eveven talk to t them abouout b. >> many blacack boysys are raisy single mothers. so t there's this opopportunity support barberers in bececoming blacack male r reading rolole m. >> what t you rereading? >> i'm'm readiding " "diary of" >> a wimimpy k kid. i i used to reread thahat book e time w when i was s younger.r. >> they'rere central t to the w. > how do yoyou say thatat wo? right. it r rhymes. >> they y have p positive e bla oldeder men around them m that' giviving them directctions, , encocouraging ththem to readad. ththat will empower them. >> the k kids, they y love i it. they'r're readading with thehei parentnts. and ththat's greatat to see asa. > these booooks i w would sa power.r. the powewer of funneness. >> you wanant to count thehe gr beans? >> y yeah. one.e. >> yepep. > twowo.. >> i i'm just excicited thatat to creatate e a sasafe s space to do o something g that is rea life-changing. that's what i really believe reading is. >> it unlocks potential. [ cheers and applause ] >> please join me in honoring cnn hero alan irby. [ cheers and applause ] >> yo. sit down. many black boys don't identify as readers, but low performance or resistance to reading are natural responses to wack books. at barbershop books we see firsthand the transformative power of engaging reading experiences. children can't read more and get worse at reading. so one key to solving america's current reading crisis is simple. curate content that create conditions that inspire kids to read for fun. please join us in helping the babies read. thank you all so much. [ cheers and applause ] >> i love that. for asylum-seeking families lifgs in shelters at the u.s.-mexico border the process for entry can take a day, can take a month. it can take years. during this time most kids living there cannot go to school. >> here to tell us how our next hero decided to help the more than 21,000 kids who are caught in this limbo you describe is a very proud supporter of unicef and one of the stars of "the hunger games: the ballad of songbirds and snakes," rachel zegler. [ applause ] >> 22 years ago a 10-year-old girl saw in school in cali, colombia. estefania rebellon was suddenly pulled from class and told to meet her father in the principal's office. because he was a lawyer, colombian rebels had threatened him. so the family went into hiding and two weeks later they fled. estefania, scared and uncertain, landed in miami, florida with one toy and the clothes on her back. like all asylum seekers her family didn't choose this new life. they were forced to flee for their safety. but thanks to good teachers and her hard-working parents she earned a college degree and began an acting career in los angeles. in 2018 during a surge in the border crisis in mexico she volunteered at a camp and met asylum-seeking children who struggled even more than she had. with $1,000 in savings she opened a school at that camp and launched the yes we can world foundation. in just five years she's opened more schools, transformed three buses into mobile classrooms and provides free supplies and meals to kids all year long to kids age 3 to 15. she is an incredible citizen, saying to countless kids, you matter, you are loved, and you you are safe to learn. >> when we arrived at the border, people were everywhere. >> i just kekept feelingng like weight o of this cririsis s was shshoulders. i couldn't't sleep. and i thought why don't we turn a bus into a mobile classroom and then we can take it to all the different shelters. we l literally just googleled o youtube how to convert a bus into a mobile clasassroom. all of the placement of things, all the colors, all the furnrniture is a all very y intentionanal to be abable to b the best space that we can for the kids. many have expeperienced teterri tragedies,s, rape, m murder, harassmentnt, kidnappiping, domc violencece. schools are the way to be able to help them heal and also help them prepapare for what ththeire is goingng to be like. i want to prevent as much heartache for the kids that i experienced. my family's case is the case of many refugees and migrants. it was never a choice to leave our home. when we arrived in the united states, i became a very quiet child. i starteted findining g my way h beining involveded in the scsch. anytime e i get a chchance i sh my immmmigration stotory.. therere's alalways that t switc hahappens in t their eyeyes. being a a migrant isis not someg ththey need toto be ashamemed o. this is s a moment in your life. thisis is not yoyour entire e l. this is a crisis that's not goining to stop p anytime soon. i i want ourur e efforts to o b someththing permananent that we be proud to look back and say that we were there when people needed us the most. [ cheers and applause ] >> it is my honor to present cnn hero estefania rebellon. [ cheers and applause ] >> buenas noches. i am a proud latina and a proud american. an asylum grantee who was given an opportunity to live safely and to pursue her dreams in this country. no one leaves their home unless they have to. no one. forced migration around the world continues to terrorize and uproot everyday families like mine. at yes we can world foundation we work with the extraordinary kids caught at the center of this humanitarian crisis at the u.s.-mexico border. our tool for change is education. potential is everywhere, but opportunity isn't. join our mission and help us expand access to education for migrant children at the u.s.-mexico border. tonight they are visible and they are seen around the world. thank you. yes we can! [ cheers and applause ] >> hey, congratulations, estefania. congratulations. how are you feeling? >> oh, my gosh. this is overwhelming. and i'm just so proud of our team. and i'm just so proud to be a latina and to be here representing tonight migrant children at the u.s.-mexico border are heroes to me, so this is for them. >> and rachel, how does estefania's work inspire you? >> oh, my gosh. i mean, as a latina here in the u.s. seeing someone who is also from colombia who's doing such amazing work for our youth, it's a really inspiring thing and i'm very proud to have presented this to her tonight. >> thank you both for being here. congratulations again. you can find out about all the work for our cnn heroes, go to cnnheroes.com. we'll be right back. >> announcer: coming up -- joe manganiello, amanda seyfried, sterling k. brown, iman velani, danielle brooks and many more of your favorite stars honor our heroes. "cnn heroes: an all-star tribute" is proudly sponsored by servpro, the number one choice in cleanup and restoration. [ cheers and applause ] welcome back to "cnn heroes." throughout the night as you meet the top ten honorees you can donate to any of them by going to cnnheroes.com and clicking on the donate button. or you can scan the qr code on your screen right now. there are so many ways to give, and we're so grateful that gofundme is working with the heroes. no one makes me ugly cry better than these heroes do. they're an inspiration to us all. oh, and one thing. laura, don't forget to hold anderson's hand backstage. he needs that. have a wonderful night, everyone. [ applause ] >> all right. sometimes it is nice to have somebody hold your hand. a thing of mine. our next hero certainly understands that need for connection. >> he's found a way to use yoga and meditation to help the 1.7 million people suffering from a traumatic brain injury. it's a silent epidemic for those who are injured and of course their caregivers. to tell us about his work is the host of "deal or no deal island" and a member of the board at umpc children's hospital of pittsburgh, joe manganiello. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. every day we are reminded that life can change in an instant. for adam pearce that moment came on new year's eve in 2009 when a friend called and said that his brother kevin, a world-class and olympic-bound snowboarder had hit his head on a halfpipe. adam raced across the country, quit his job, and became kevin's full-time caregiver, helping him learn how to walk, talk and reconnect his brain and body to the life that he loved. about two years into kevin's difficult recovery they took a yoga class and something shifted in that class for kevin and they decided to figure out why and how to help others. in 2014 adam co-founded the love your brain foundation, which offers free training courses and classes in yoga, retreats for patients and their caregivers, and contributes to new research about the brain. to date they have supported more than 34,000 patients and their caregivers. that's comfort and connection for those who know what it's like to receive that terrifying call and to those who struggle to find a way forward where they can begin to believe that this new life will be okay. >> seeing kevivin with 30 tubesn his body, it was just devastating. >> did you have a great day today? >> great day. >> great day. >> what i remember most is adam being there. he moved to denver and he did every single day of therapy with me. >> breathe in and liftft youours upup toward the sky. >> we found yogaga p probably a two years afafter his acacciden. he'd c come out of yoga class a be l like that's's the o old ke. >> threadiding through. > we had so manany people co to u us saying t there's no sup, what didid you do?o? we k knew we needed d to do sosomething. retreatsts are creating g the coconditions for peoeople to fe acceptpted exact l liv as s the. > i knew i neneeded to be ar other r people who understooood because e nobody elslse does. >> i think people fefeel isosol after braiain injury becausese don't feelel ablble. when you don't feeeel ablele, , generally y retreaeat t back in. > it's hard. i lost my -- >> there's's a deep connecectio formrmed because there i is so common understananding of ththe chchallenges t that go alongng braiain injury.. i hohope people wawalk away frfe retreat fefeeling thatat they ya sensnse of controlol in their healaling. oftentimeses o our medicalal sy has us thinknking that someoeon elsese can f fix us. ththere is so o much more e tha can n do for ourseselves.. everery single persoson on this planet's's going to o be faced a challengnge. it d doesn't matter whatat that chchallenge isis.. it's's how you deal with it. i am totally and completelely 1% hahappy with w where i'm a at t. >> whahat this has t taught me ththat trarauma and adversity ce a popowerful p pathway for deee learning and growth. [ applause ] >> please join me in honoring cnn hero adam pearce. [ cheers and applause ] >> this is for you. >> in my experience transformation most often occurs in situations filled with great challenge or great love. at love your brain we have both. when we explore our joys and grief together, we can forge pathways to greater understanding and resilience. for anyone navigating the uncertainties of brain injury i want you to know that you are not defined by your injury but by the compassion and courage with which you face it. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> tonight not only are we honoring our top ten heroes but we're also celebrating two young people who can show us you can make a difference at any age. we call them young wonders. >> to shape our first young wonders, i know that's you as well, anderson cooper, but our first young wonders -- >> don't mock me. >> i'm not mocking you. it's sincere. our first young wonder is a remarkable story, is a student organizer for the brockin foundation whose mission is to promote awareness of the holocaust, genocide and antisemitism through education and a star of bradley cooper's "maestro" and hit max series "just like that," alexa swinton. [ applause ] >> in 2019 a young boy traveled to the city of galilee in the northern part of israel. steven hoffen volunteered for an organization led by arab and jewish women to promote sustainable agriculture, women's empowerment and kushlt'll understanding. what struck steven was how they were doing this. growing fresh produce in towers on rooftops and in kitchens. he saw up close how hydroponic farming worked to bring healthy food to those who needed it and could be a way to battle climate change. he returned home to new york city and eventually started his organization, growing peace. in just two years he has placed 14 systems in the bronx which helps formerly incarcerated women and low income families, seven towers in washington heights to help low-income seniors and seniors living with a disability, and built a massive system at the food bank in tel aviv. his work reminds us that no matter our age when we see something new and take it in big things like cooperation, community and change are possible. ♪ >> what struck me most about hydrouponics was that it seemed some high-h-tech. lilike somethihing out of a mov. insteaead of growing food from e ground we're growing crops out of these tall l shiny towers by passing nutrient-rich water through their roots. hydroponic farming saves more water.r. it also uses less space, making it easier toto g grow in food deserts s and ururban n areaeas. the nameme of my organizatation growing peacace. we installll the hydroponinic systemems to alleveviate food ininse insesecurity. every weekek i visit s some of sites to monitor the s systems d see how w the crops are growowi. >> 1,53333. >> it brings m me joy to expose other younung kids to hyhydropo. >> youou just wantnt to cut it t atat the r root of each leaf he. you're d doing a great job. >> we e can n basically grow anythihing that grows in thehe ground. leafy greeeens, chererry tomato and ststrawberrieses. the producuce that w we harvese to various commumunities in nen including g elderly people. i hopepe to spreadad the messas thatat as climatate changege w we neeeed to swiwitch to m more sustainanable methodods of food prododuction. >> thank y you. >> with h these systems in plac cocommunities s won't be lackin healalthy food. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. enjoy. >> when i see the smile on somebody's face, it makes me feel like i really made a difference. [ applause ] >> wow. >> well done. >> i know. >> great job. [ cheers and applause ] such a sweetheart. and don't forget to tell us what you think about steven's work and all of our top ten honorees by tagging cnnheroes. great job. >> we'll be right back. >> announcer: up next on "cnn heroes," "the color purple's" danielle brooks honors an incredible hero for kids with incarcerated parents. don't go away. "cnn heroes" will be right back. "cnnnn heroes: an all-stst