12/12/16  Portland, Ore.

The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute has announced grant funding to ten community-led projects around the state in the latest funding cycle for its Community Partnership Program. Organizations receiving funding include:

• Bay Area Hospital, Coos Bay
• Northwest Sarcoma Foundation, Portland
• Oregon State University, Corvallis
• *American Lung Association of the Mountain Pacific, Tigard
• South River Community Health Center, Winston
• Cascade Health Alliance, Klamath Falls
• **Eastern Oregon University, La Grande
• Family YMCA of Marion and Polk Counties, Salem
• ***Hood River County Prevention Department, Hood River
• YMCA of Douglas County, Roseburg

To date, Community Partnership Program grants have funded 53 projects in 34 of Oregon’s 36 counties, with 89 percent of projects targeting rural communities. The program has funded a variety of projects, including expanding cancer screenings, prevention through healthy behaviors and survivorship support.

“It is incredibly heartening to see the tremendous reach and impact this program is having throughout the state,” said Jackilen Shannon, Ph.D., R.D., co-director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Community Partnership Program.

Launched in October 2014, the program helps communities conduct cancer-related projects targeting a diverse range of cancer types and audiences, including:

• An education and testing initiative expanding outreach to Oregonians most at risk for developing lung cancer following exposure to radon in the home.
• The reestablishment of a colorectal cancer screening program in Klamath Falls.
• An after-school physical activity and cancer prevention program for middle-school youth.

“After two years, it’s both encouraging and inspiring to see so much work being done in communities across the state to address local cancer-related needs,” said Kerri Winters-Stone, Ph.D., F.A.C.S.M., co-director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Community Partnership Program.

The Community Partnership Program offers multiple tiers of funding in an effort to help organizations to begin at the idea phase of a project, and then build and test an effective solution for a cancer-related problem within their community.

Organizations with funded projects connect with a variety of other nationally based trainings designed to increase their capacity and knowledge for developing evidence-based programs, provide them with networking opportunities, and collaborate with OHSU faculty.

Learn more about the projects funded.

* Previously funded Tier 1 project, refunded as a Tier 2.
** Previously funded Tier 3 project, refunded again as a Tier 3.
*** Previously funded Tier 2 project, refunded as a Tier 3.

About the Knight Cancer Institute

The Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University is a pioneer in the field of precision cancer medicine. The institute's director, Brian Druker, M.D., helped prove it was possible to shut down just the cells that enable cancer to grow. This breakthrough has made once-fatal forms of the disease manageable and transformed how cancer is treated. The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center between Sacramento and Seattle – an honor earned only by the nation's top cancer centers. It is headquarters for one of the National Cancer Institute's largest research collaboratives, SWOG, in addition to offering the latest treatments and technologies as well as hundreds of research studies and clinical trials. For additional information on the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute visit www.ohsu.edu/xd/health/services/cancer or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.