Erykah Badu to donate concert proceeds to Detroit rape kit project

DETROIT, July 13 (UPI) -- R&B mainstay Erykah Badu plans to donate the proceeds from her August concert in Detroit to that city's project to process untested rape kits.

Badu has teamed up with charity African American 490 Challenge -- named for the $490 it takes to process a rape kit -- and event company The Right Productions to make the donation from her performance at Detroit's Chene Park Amphitheater, Entertainment reported.

The project's parent company, Enough SAID (Sexual Assault in Detroit), started the project after it was discovered in 2009 that the city police department had more than 11,000 untested rape kits stored in a warehouse. The project raises money to get those kits processed.

The donation is good news for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who at one time was the lone voice for finding justice for the women whose cases have sat unfinished for years, the Detroit Free Press reported.

"This is a huge day for Enough SAID/AA490," Worthy 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."

Money raised to date has funded tests of thousands of the untested kits and allowed Worthy to establish a county prosecution team whose one mission is to investigate the rapes connected to the kits.

Right Productions president and CEO Shahida Mausi said the 490 Challenge will get $5 from each ticket sold for the concert and the proceeds from both a $100-per-ticket reception before the concert and a $1,000-each reception with Badu following the show. All tickets are tax deductible.

"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."