The Grassroot Project

The mission of The Grassroot Project is to use sports to educate at-risk youth in the community about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

The Grassroot Project is a non-profit, student run HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention program, using the role model status of Division I college students and the popular platform of sports to empower at-risk youths with the knowledge and skills to lead healthy lives.

The curriculum focuses on creating a fun, friendly and safe environment in which youth learn healthy life styles. The programs will allow the kids to share their feelings and beliefs, increase knowledge, and develop healthy attitudes and behaviors pertaining to HIV/AIDS through the use of interactive games and activities. By using the vehicle of sports to influence social change, student athletes will use the curriculum to combat the high rate of HIV/AIDS in D.C.

The program hopes to expand to the five other NCAA Division I institutions in the D.C. metropolitan area by spring of 2010. The Grassroot Program is part of Athletes United for Social Justice, a non-profit organization dedicated to using college athletes to empower youth through sports.

The city has by far the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the United States—over 10 times the national average, and higher than New York, Baltimore, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit. D.C.’s youth rank first nationally in the number of new annual AIDS cases. HIV infection rates are also rapidly increasing—the number of new HIV infections among youth tripled for the period 2000 to 2005 compared to the previous five years. The Grassroot Project aims to help at-risk youth avoid becoming just another number.