The Washington Mystics are banking on the promise of basketball and free food to get 1,500 teens talking about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington. The women’s basketball team — which launched a foundation in November with Black Entertainment Television co-founder and Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson — will host “The Mystics Hip-Hop Forum” on July 27 at the Verizon Center, immediately before their home game.

“We’re trying to bring the classroom to the basketball court,” said Cynthia Dinkins, president of the Washington Mystics Foundation.

The forum is part of an ongoing series of events that brings teens together to discuss relevant topics in a peer-to-peer setting. A “teen posse” moderates the discussions, which have already covered such topics as teen violence and date rape. The forums are modeled after the BET show “Teen Summit,” Dinkins said.

Forums typically host about 200 teens, but because HIV and AIDS are so prevalent in the District — it is estimated that 1 in every 20 residents is infected with HIV — the foundation will distribute 1,500 tickets. The forums have so far been successful in opening the lines of communication, said Dinkins, and the foundation is planning to expand the program into local high schools in the fall.

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“I wouldn’t feel comfortable with an adult telling me about [HIV/AIDS],” said Yasmine Saibou, a 16-year-old peer educator with Metro TeenAIDS, a D.C.-based nonprofit that works to educate local young people about the virus. “I would just be like ‘Why is she talking to me?’ But with your peers, you’re on the same level.” Saibou will be one of several HIV/AIDS “experts” facilitating the forum.

HIV, AIDS in young people

» It is estimated that nearly 150,000 adults under 34 years of age in the United States have AIDS, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control. More than 9,000 of those infected are younger than 13.

» The Mystics Foundation’s Hip-Hop Forum is sponsored by YouthAIDS, a national nonprofit dedicated to preventing HIV and AIDS in young people from 15 to 24 years old. The July 27 forum will include an appearance by YouthAIDS ambassador Ashley Judd and a performance by Wynonna Judd.

» Call 202-266-2393; e-mail hiphopforum@washmystics.com to purchase tickets.

kwilmeth@dcexaminer.com