Two community nonprofits, one focused on breast health and another promoting health education, are the latest recipients of pilot grants from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Health Disparities Research Center, or HDRC.

he Carol Milgard Breast Center, based in Tacoma, received an $8,000 grant to conduct research to help overcome barriers to good breast health within the Hispanic-Latina community of Pierce County. The Binaytara Foundation, based in Bellingham, received an $8,000 grant to raise the profile of cancer health disparities via a two-day summit and a national task force.

Each year, the HDRC invites community groups to the Hutch campus to participate in a two-day grant-writing workshop and vie for funding. Designed to better understand and eliminate the issues that prevent at-risk populations from leading longer and healthier lives, the workshops empower the groups to design and implement interventions that will specifically speak to the needs of minorities, gays, non-English speakers, the elderly and others.

“Establishing partnerships with these community-based organizations through the community grants program is one small step to building capacity for more coordinated efforts in achieving health equity across the region." said HDRC community health educator Kathy Briant.

Briant said four nonprofits participated in the workshops this year, which have proved an effective means to get public health messages out to underserved communities.

The Binaytara Foundation, which works to reduce cancer health disparities in the U.S. and elsewhere, will focus on its forthcoming 2018 Summit on National and Global Cancer Health Disparities.

Read the full article about health disparities research center by Diane Mapes at Fred Hutch.