The National Black Church Initiative has teamed up with the American Clinical Health Disparities Commission and Black Pearl Media Works to raise $500,000 for a short film aimed at increasing awareness about prostate cancer among Black men.

Organizers said the project will focus on prevention, early detection and education, with a fundraising goal of 500,000 people contributing $5 each. 

“This project demonstrates how the black church is working with the black art community to build awareness around the dangers of prostate cancer,” said the Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the National Black Church Initiative. 

The National Black Church Initiative is a coalition of about 150,000 African American and Latino faith communities, representing an estimated 27.7 million members. 

Black Pearl Media Works is producing the film with filmmaker Dante James, an Emmy Award-winning director whose credits include the PBS documentary series “Slavery and the Making of America” and “Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story.” Organizers said the project will involve prostate cancer experts, social historians and community health advocates. 

According to the American Cancer Society, Black men are nearly twice as likely as white men to develop prostate cancer in their early 50s and twice as likely to die from the disease. 

Organizers also pointed to barriers including limited access to health care, lower rates of insurance coverage, distrust of the medical system and the small number of Black urologists nationwide. Historical abuses such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the case of Henrietta Lacks continue to shape that mistrust, they said. 

Donations to support the film can be made online.