1,341 sexual assault kits remain untested in the Detroit Police Department, where over 11,341 kits were found untested more than five years ago. Untested sexual assault kits mean acts of rape and sexual assault have been forgotten and thrown away, leaving victims stranded in a sea of injustice. 
 
 The Enough SAID (Enough Sexual Assault in Detroit) organization is an advocate for justice in these sexual assault cases and has created the African American 490 Challenge. 
 
 
 
 Named because each sexual assault kit costs $490 to process, the 490 Challenge raises money and awareness for the untested rape kits. Having raised $14.5 million dollars for the cause, the organization is still in need of another $14 million to finish the job. 
 
 
 
 The cost of launching a cold case unit to investigate and prosecute cases resulting from the testing is an estimated $2 million per year for the next five years, according to the Michigan Women's Foundation. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Grammy Award winning singer Erykah Badu and The Right Productions Inc. 
 
 click to enlarge Photo via Chene Park Detroit Facebook 
 
 are coming together to host a concert at the Chene Park Amphitheatre at 8 p.m. on Aug. 12 to raise funds for the 490 challenge and join the fight against the injustices presented to the community by the unprocessed rape kits. 
 
 
 
 “It should come as no surprise that an artist of Erykah Badu’s impressive history of social consciousness would join forces with the black women leaders of Detroit to address this important social issue," says Enough SAID President Kim Trent. 
 
 With the help of the The Circle, a local black womens' social issues group and the Michigan Women’s Foundation, Badu and other partners have set a goal to raise $50,000 for the 490 challenge that will go toward Enough SAID’s goal of $657,090 that they wish to fulfill by the end of the year. 
 
 For each ticket bought for the show, $5 will be donated to the 490 challenge along with other proceeds from a $100-per-person pre-concert reception and a post-concert $1,000-per-person V.I.P reception that Badu will attend. Donations are 100 percent tax deductible. 
 
 Badu's partnership with the Detroit nonprofits, along with the support of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy — an advocate for sexual assault kit testing and investigations — means great strides are being made to bring justice to victims. 
 
 “Together we stand for justice," says Shahida Mausi, president and CEO of The Right Productions Inc., and promoter for Chene Park Amphitheatre. “We are honored to make Chene Park the site for great artistry supporting a great mission. 
 
 “Erykah Badu is a true artist. She is a cultural icon. She answered the call, lending her voice to those who work to redress a wrong.” 

 Erykah Badu. (Photo: AP) 
 
 Erykah Badu is joining the campaign to process abandoned rape kits and find the criminals connected to them. 
 
 The Grammy-winning artist is partnering with the Right Productions to donate money from her Aug. 12 concert at Chene Park Amphitheater to the African American 490 Challenge. The 490 is a partner of Enough SAID, the Michigan Women’s Foundation campaign raising money to test more than 11,300 rape kits found abandoned in a Detroit Police Department storage unit in 2009. The 490 Challenge bears that name because each kit costs $490 to test. About 10,000 kits have been tested so far, and money is now going toward completing the tests and investigating the results. 
 
 The announcement is more good news for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy – who once worked alone to find justice for the women whose kits sat for years. Worthy, who has since gained thousands of supporters and national attention, was buoyed by the latest news. 
 
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 This is a huge day for Enough SAID/AA490,” she said in a statement. “Everyone knows that Erykah Badu is a major, major talent in the music and song-writing industry. For her to lend her name, talent and time to this work is nothing short of a miracle. Justice for these forgotten sexual assault victims has been given a phenomenal assist.” 
 
 The Badu announcement comes just weeks after a group of black men across the region announced that they would join the campaign, which is at the heart of a unique public-private partnership to raise money for public use. That so many people are stepping up to help makes it less heartbreaking that justice was denied so many women for so long. 
 
 The dollars raised so far have funded tests of thousands of kits and allowed Worthy to establish a county prosecution team whose sole mission is to investigate the rapes connected to the kits. 
 
 Shahida Mausi, president and CEO of the Right Productions, said the 490 Challenge would get $5 from each ticket sale as well as the proceeds from a $100-per-ticket reception before the concert and $1,000-per-person VIP reception with Badu after the show. Organizers said tickets to both receptions are 100% tax deductible. 
 
 Organizers, who include the Circle, a local black women’s social issues group, hope to raise $50,000 toward the 490 Challenge’s goal of raising $657,090 by year’s end. The 490 Challenge has raised about $250,000 so far from efforts that included a fund-raising competition between black sororities and a contest last year between supporters of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. 
 
 “Together, we stand for justice,” Mausi said. “We are honored to make Chene Park the site for great artistry supporting a great mission.” 
 
 Badu is the latest among a number of celebrities and prominent national leaders to donate to the effort to test rape kits. 
 
 “It should come as no surprise that an artist with Erykah Badu's impressive history of social consciousness would join forces with the black women leaders of Detroit to address this important social issue," said Kim Trent, president of the 490 Challenge. “We are very excited that she is lending her considerable talent to our cause.” 
 
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 For information, call 313-393-0292 or go to www.CheneParkDetroit.com. Tickets for the Erykah Badu concert are available through Ticketmaster or via the Chene Park mobile app. To donate to the AA490 Challenge, go to www.aa490challenge.org. 
 
 
 
 
 
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– More than 11,300 abandoned, untested rape kits were found in a Detroit Police Department storage unit in 2009—and now Erykah Badu is helping to finish getting them tested. Around 10,000 of them have been tested so far, and the singer will donate funds from her Aug. 12 concert in Detroit toward getting the rest tested—and their results investigated. Badu's donations are going to the African American 490 Challenge, so named because testing costs $490 per kit, the Detroit Free Press reports. Per the Detroit Metro Times, AA490 (which is a partner of Enough SAID, a Michigan Women's Foundation campaign working to get the kits tested) is still looking to raise $14 million—$657,090 to get the rest of the kits tested, plus $2 million per year for a cold case unit to investigate and prosecute any rape cases that result. "This is a huge day for Enough SAID/AA490," says Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who has been working to get the kits tested for years. "Everyone knows that Erykah Badu is a major, major talent in the music and song-writing industry. For her to lend her name, talent, and time to this work is nothing short of a miracle. Justice for these forgotten sexual assault victims has been given a phenomenal assist." Worthy has already put together a county prosecution team that will be solely focused on investigating rapes connected to the kits. "It should come as no surprise that an artist with Erykah Badu's impressive history of social consciousness would join forces with the black women leaders of Detroit to address this important social issue," says the president of AA490. Badu's goal is to raise $50,000 from the concert, $5 per ticket purchased plus proceeds from pre- and post-concert receptions.