Nationwide — Thomas A. Farrington, the President and Founder of Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN), whose mission is to eliminate the African American Prostate Cancer disparity, is holding a DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia) Prostate Cancer Community Rally across four Saturdays in June 2025, during Men’s Health Month. PHEN will host these events with Howard University Cancer Center and four longstanding DMV Church partners – Reid Temple AME Church, Ebenezer A.M.E. Church, Judah Temple A.M.E. Zion Church, and First Baptist Church of Highland Park. Each event will offer free early detection PSA blood screening tests and prostate cancer education.
Black men in Washington, D.C., are three times more likely to die from prostate cancer than white men, according to DC Health, and Maryland’s prostate cancer incidence rate ranks fourth nationally. “Prostate cancer is a major crisis in Black America. We’re holding these events, not just for men to come and learn their PSA numbers; we’re hosting them to help save their lives,” said Farrington, PHEN’s president, who is also a 25-year prostate cancer survivor. “These statistics are mind-blowing, and our goal is to sound the alarm and mobilize community actions to address this crisis.”
PHEN’s four free DMV Prostate Cancer Community Rally screening and educational events will take place at the following churches:
• Saturday, June 7, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at Reid Temple A.M.E. Church (11400 Glenn Dale Blvd, Glenn Dale, MD 20769), Reverend Dr. Mark E. Whitlock, Jr., Pastor. This Rally event will be hosted with the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Pi Upsilon Lambda Chapter, and the Reid Temple Men’s Ministry.
• Saturday, June 14, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at Ebenezer A.M.E. Church (7707 Allentown Rd, Fort Washington, MD 20744), Reverend Dr. Grainger Browning, Jr, Pastor. The theme for this event is “Brothers, Be Watchful: Protecting the Temple, Preserving the Legacy,” in collaboration with Ebenezer’s Health and Men’s Ministry. PHEN and the AME Church denomination signed a partnership agreement in 2023, under which hundreds of AME churches now partner with PHEN in communities nationwide.
• Saturday, June 21, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at Judah Temple A.M.E. Zion Church (14500 Mount Oak Road, Mitchellville, MD), Reverend Scot C. Moore, Pastor. Earlier this year, PHEN and the A.M.E. Zion Church denomination signed an agreement, allowing A.M.E. Zion congregations and communities worldwide to benefit from the educational and awareness opportunities offered by PHEN. This event helps kick off that agreement and will be hosted by Rev. Scot C. Moore, Executive Director of Men of Zion, and Dr. Iyabode Beysolow, Director of Health Ministry, The A.M.E. Zion Church.
• Saturday, June 28, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at the First Baptist Church of Highland Park (6801 Sheriff Road, Hyattsville, MD 20785), Reverend Dr. Henry P. Davis III, Pastor. PHEN hosted its 2019 award-winning stage play, “Daddy’s Boys,” at First Baptist Church and will again team up for a full-day prostate cancer educational town hall and screening event, covering Early Detection Screening, Understanding Treatment Options, Increasing Clinical Trial Participation, and a Community Forum Path Forward Roundtable.
Howard University’s Men Take Ten Mobile unit will also be on-site, offering free PSA blood screenings to men. “Howard University has a partnership that spans 20 years with PHEN and has collaborated on prostate cancer screenings, educational outreach, and their annual Summit in the Washington D.C. area,” said Dr. Leslie Deane, Professor & Chief, Division of Urology, Department of Surgery. “We’re honored to help lead the screening portions of these major rally events, to end the Black prostate cancer disparity here in the DMV.”
The DMV Community Rally will also incorporate paid radio and social media promotions for prostate cancer awareness throughout June, utilizing the voices of local leaders. It is expected to reach 1 million people.
In 2021, PHEN first launched the Prostate Cancer Community Rally program. Since then, it has reached over 23 million people across 15 states through radio-based awareness messages, social media promotional materials, hybrid Town Hall meetings, and community-based prostate cancer awareness events. Find out more at www.rapcancer.org
For press inquiries, contact Vera Gruessner at verag@prostatehealthed.org or (781) 718-0528.