COMMUNITY GRANTS

2020 Community Grants

“Thanks so much to the Prevent Cancer Foundation for its incredible support of the ScanVan as it returns to our most-vulnerable communities, overcoming the many barriers presented by this pandemic and providing comprehensive breast health care to those who need it most,” said Erika Hval, Senior Grants Manager for Project Renewal, Inc., located in New York City.

Since 2007, the Prevent Cancer Foundation has awarded 91 grants to projects in a multitude of states and territories, as well as to organizations serving Indian Country. Here are the Foundation’s 2020 community grant recipients.

American Indian Cancer Foundation (AICAF) Minneapolis, Minn.

Increasing colorectal awareness and screening at three American Indian urban health clinics

Binaytara Foundation Issaquah, Wash.

Providing cervical and breast cancer education, screening and navigation support to 300 Bhutanese refugee women

Kintegra Health Gastonia, N.C.

Coordinating breast cancer screening, diagnostic testing and navigation for 250 uninsured/ underinsured women

Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc. Bayside, N.Y.

Hepatitis B testing, education and care coordination for uninsured or underinsured community members

North East Medical Services San Francisco, Calif.

Providing comprehensive multidisciplinary care to women with chronic hepatitis B virus infection and their infants

Project Renewal, Inc. New York, N.Y.

Providing free comprehensive breast cancer screening and education on board the ScanVan mobile mammography facility and bilingual patient navigation for 1,100 underserved women

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Buffalo, N.Y.

Increasing knowledge and reducing barriers to lung cancer screening among underserved communities

Tampa Family Health Centers, Inc. Tampa, Fla.

Increasing colorectal cancer screening among an underserved patient population and establishing regular provider training and education about screening

The Research Foundation for SUNY on behalf of the University at Buffalo, The Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Department of Family Medicine and the Primary Care Research Institute. Buffalo, N.Y.

Partnering patient ambassadors with primary care providers to increase colorectal cancer screening among predominately Black patients

VAX 2 STOP CANCER Birmingham, Ala.

Educating providers, parents and adolescents with evidence-based tools to increase HPV vaccination completion rates

Impact Spotlight: Health Care for the Homeless 2019 community grantee

On any given night in Baltimore, Md., nearly 3,000 people experience homelessness. People experiencing homelessness have a higher cancer risk, and due to lack of access to health care, often do not have a diagnosis until advanced stages.

Health Care for the Homeless partners with caregivers, advocates and donors to provide comprehensive health care and support services to people experiencing homelessness.

“If I hadn’t gone to the clinic, I never would have found out that I had cancer. Being able to see them every week saved my life. Now,

I’m learning to love myself—and [learning] that I have something to live for.”

— Richard Holmes, cancer survivor A community grant from the Prevent Cancer Foundation enabled improved access to colorectal and cervical cancer education and screening for the thousands of people without homes in Baltimore. Education and screening are now part of standard care at clinic sites and screening kits are readily available. These simple strategies, combined with targeted outreach calls to people due for a screening, have increased the rates of both cervical and colorectal cancer screening over the last year, helping dozens to detect cancer early and increase the odds of a successful outcome. “Cancer prevention is important for everyone, but for our client population we know there are significant health disparities and much less access to cancer education and screenings. Many of these barriers we have to address at a systemic level, but by screening early, educating early, we are saving lives. Early detection leads to better outcomes,” said Lead Population Nurse Tracy Russell.

Health Care for the Homeless provided more than 800 cervical and colorectal screenings with the support of their community grant.

“With your support, we have successfully made cancer prevention education and colorectal/cervical cancer screening a higher clinical priority, including screenings in our regular workflows and targeted outreach to people due for screenings.”