Funds raised from the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure are granted to local and national programs that support Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s promise to save lives and end breast cancer forever.
Each year, up to 75 percent of the Komen Global Race’s net income stays in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to fund local screening, treatment and education programs for the medically underserved. The remaining dollars support the Komen Global Promise Fund, a program of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which is dedicated to reaching underserved people in areas where breast cancer mortality rates are the highest
Through a competitive grant process, the Race provides funding to not-for-profit organizations providing breast health services such as mobile mammography and other free or low-cost screening. In addition, the Komen Global Race for the Cure provides grants to organizations offering treatment assistance and patient support services. All local grants are based on a community needs assessment that identifies and targets existing “gaps” in breast health and breast cancer services in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. We believe the key to eradicating this disease is through education, and we want to continuously spread our message of early detection.
With more than $1.3 billion invested to date, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world’s single largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to curing breast cancer - second only to the U.S. Government. We fight breast cancer on all fronts - in laboratories, in doctors’ offices, throughout communities, in rural and urban areas and at the public policy level.
For more information and to learn more about the Komen Advocacy Alliance, visit komenadvocacy.org.
Local Grant Recipients
The following abstracts are samples of the programs that have been funded through the Susan G. Komen National Capital Area Grants Program:
Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts Faith-based community navigation holds promise for reducing disparities in cancer care and outcomes, especially for underserved, diverse cultural groups. However, the efficacy of navigation is still not well understood, and current models do not address many psychosocial barriers. Smith Farm Center has developed a new Integral Healing Model for faith-based community navigation that will reduce disparities in care for African-American and African immigrant residents of Southeast Washington, D.C. Our model combines elements of psychosocial support and holistic practices with traditional strategies of removing barriers, improving treatment accessibility and compliance and educating about the continuum of care. These psychosocial and holistic elements along with faith-based community navigation services are largely untested. We will contribute to current research by conducting: 1) a focus group-based needs assessment to improve understanding of psychosocial barriers to care unique to this population and 2) an impact evaluation that includes formative, summative and comparative evaluations. Partnering with 4 churches and the leading Black academic and research institutions, our 6 navigators will provide integrative navigation to 400 and education and outreach to 8,100 underserved residents who otherwise would not receive these services. We will assess the impact of our model on the efficacy of faith-based navigation and identify its potential as a best practice.
Muslim Community Center Medical Clinic The Muslim Community Center Clinic (MCC Clinic) is committed to increasing the breast cancer surveillance rate among the low-income, uninsured women it serves in Montgomery County, MD. This goal will be accomplished by reducing the existing cultural barriers through identifying patient barriers and targeting patient education, both group and one-on-one, by a registered nurse and culturally competent patient navigator. The program will be evaluated by: 1) the number of patient that received education on breast health services, 2) the percentage of women who receive clinical breast exams, 3) an increase in the breast cancer screening rate and 4) all patients with breast cancer will receive case management and treatment. This program will reduce cultural barriers and increase screening for a most vulnerable population. Patient education and support groups will be provided in the patient’s native language. Program effectiveness will continuously be assessed through regular monitoring and evaluation of patient data. Evaluation will be based on comparing clinic results to the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) benchmarks. Through this initiative the MCC Clinic aims to achieve a screening rate of 80% or higher by the end of the third year.
Korean Community Service Center of Greater Washington The purpose of the BCPCAA project is to ensure that Asian women 40 years and older at risk of breast cancer increase their awareness of the importance of regular breast check-ups including self-exams, clinical exams and mammograms and practice regular breast check-ups through outreach, health education and the arrangement of early detection activities. KCSC requests $150,000 for a two-year project. The BCPCAA project consists of: 1) production of a culturally and linguistically appropriate breast cancer educational video, 2) outreach through educational brochure distribution for 6000 individuals and monthly educational seminars using the Korean education video for 420 individuals, 3) breast cancer early detection activities through clinical breast exam for 140 individuals and free mammograms for 100 eligible women and 4) case management for 200 eligible women. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the breast cancer workshop and Korean educational video, we will give a pre-test before the workshop, one post-test after the workshop prior to the video presentation, and a second post-test after the video. KCSC will serve at least 12,860 at risk Asian women during the two year project period. 60 percent of workshop participants will report increased awareness of breast cancer prevention before the video presentation and 80 percent after the video presentation. 70 percent of case managed women will complete a monthly self-exam during one year and 50 percent a clinical breast exam once a year.
Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc. The purpose of ECDC's two-year Project AWARE is to help remove barriers that keep African-born women living in the Washington, D.C. metro area from engaging in prevention strategies that will lower their risk for breast cancer in order to reduce late-stage treatment and deaths among this population. Key activities will be provided by bilingual staff through culturally and language appropriate strategies including: 1) outreach conducted where African women live, shop, and socialize, 2) one-on-one and small group gathering education covering breast cancer facts/myths, risk factors, prevention, symptoms, diagnosis/treatment, and community resources 3) referrals to collaborating organizations for mammograms and follow-up treatment 4) interpretation services and 5) follow-up support. A process evaluation will focus on number of clients served, client demographics, types of services and client satisfaction. An outcomes evaluation will focus on immediate change in knowledge, attitudes and skills, benefits identified by participants and behavior changes after participation. ECDC believes that the project's impact will be high for two reasons. Language appropriate messages about breast cancer and how to lower one's risks will be widely circulated in the community. Educating 250 women in one-on-one and group encounters really translates into at least another 1,000 women getting the message as the original 250 talk to friends and family members.
Prevent Cancer Foundation ¡Celebremos La Vida! is a long-standing community program that provides free breast and cervical cancer screening, follow-up care and health education services to underserved Hispanic women over 40 in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Celebremos was developed by the Prevent Cancer Foundation in 1994 to address healthcare barriers faced by this community: language barriers, cultural differences, difficulty navigating the health system, lack of insurance and financial constraints. Celebremos seeks to overcome these barriers to care by providing free screening for breast and cervical cancer, employing bilingual patient navigators and staff and accepting participants regardless of legal status. Celebremos aims to provide a comprehensive, culturally sensitive program to 510 women in the DC area each year, an increase of almost 42% from last year made possible by the expansion to a third DC metro area site. Evaluation of Celebremos includes collection and analysis of patient satisfaction surveys and reach statistics (the number of women who receive screening, follow-up services, health education and cancer diagnoses) and tracks new and returning participant demographics. Celebremos has provided over 3,900 breast and cervical cancer screenings and nurtures partnerships with local community and medical organizations to ensure follow-up care. Celebremos continues to meet the challenges of cultural and language barriers to care, helping to reduce overall health disparities.
