Community and Patient Outreach
Project Community
Project Community leads the OCE’s outreach to patients with cancer, their families and caregivers, and medically underserved communities in the U.S. In 2021, Project Community began the first National Black Family Cancer Awareness Week to increase cancer awareness in one of the most vulnerable segments of the U.S. population. This initiative created a social media toolkit and included four meetings with external stakeholders plus a June 2021 Conversation on Cancer that garnered 469 attendees and more than 600 YouTube views.
More than 50 organizations engaged with the initiative on social media throughout the year, generating cancer awareness messages to millions of social media viewers. This successful initiative will continue, with the awareness week scheduled for June 16-22, 2022.
Project Community also conducted four meetings with 25 NCI-designated Cancer Center Outreach Leads and participated in five listening sessions or public-facing meetings with external stakeholders.
Conversations on Cancer
Project Community held eight Conversations on Cancer public panel discussions in 2021, with total attendance at nearly 4,000. Topics included clinical trial barriers for Black Americans, racial injustice in health care for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, health challenges and communication strategies for cancer survivors, the future of childhood cancer drug development, cancer disparities in the U.S. Latinx LGBTQ communities, and future cancer equity opportunities. These discussions are freely available for viewing on the Conversations on Cancer web page or YouTube playlist.
