The community outreach program identifies community needs, develops health promotion and educational resources, and works to help improve health literacy and education in traditionally underserved communities. We work to expand our community partnerships and networks, build on existing outreach and education services and to reach large segments of communities with cancer related resources. 

Completed and ongoing programs include:

National Outreach Network
The Kimmel Cancer Center is a member of the National Outreach Network (NON), a collaborative program developed to provide outreach and education to underserved communities and that works closely with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other NON members across the US. The Kimmel Cancer Center community health educators (based within the Center) serve as a liaison between the Cancer Center and the community. As part of our NON efforts, the Center will also engage in community and provider-based clinical trial education, facilitate biospecimen collection and support the NCI-funded University of Maryland’s Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (UMB CURE) program.

Stocking Up on Healthcare Information at the Market
The award-winning program, Day at the Market, is held twice a month at Northeast Market in East Baltimore. It brings nurses and other clinicians, safety experts, and other caregivers face to face with citizens to offer tips on cancer prevention, detection and healthy living. One day a month focuses entirely on cancer education, prevention and screening. Information on clinical trials is provided as well as assistance in obtaining health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. The program received recognition from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and an award from the Maryland Cancer Collaborative, the group that oversees the Maryland Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan. 

Community Advisory Group
The Kimmel Cancer Center is working to transform cancer care by making it more patient- and family-centered. Our Community Advisory Group is part of the Johns Hopkins Center to Reduce Cancer Disparities. It forges new bonds with the people of Baltimore and Prince George's County and the community organizations that support its neighborhoods. The advisory group offers critical input and perspective to guide our experts as we provide community-based participatory education and research among minority and underserved populations in Maryland. The advisory group ensures our outreach activities and communication, written materials, and clinical trials information are planned and structured in a way that will inform, engage and benefit minority citizens, particularly in African-American communities. The COACH (Evaluating Coaches of Older Adults for Cancer Care and Healthy Behaviors) study is an example of a clinical trial organized with the help of the advisory group. COACH evaluates the benefit of using trained, patient-selected health "coaches" to encourage completion of cancer screenings.

Better Delivery of Care
Johns Hopkins voluntarily joined programs like Priority Partners, a managed care organization that provides health care to more than 185,000 uninsured members. The program was established long before the Affordable Care Act, say Kimmel Cancer Center leaders, who note that care through Priority Partners is equal to and, in many cases, exceeds that offered through premier commercial insurance plans.

Community Physicians
Johns Hopkins Community Physicians provides care to nearly a half-million Marylanders in neighborhood locations. It continues to meet the needs of Maryland's underserved by providing screening for prostate, colon, breast and cervical cancers.

Helping Our D.C. Neighbors
Just 25 years ago, Maryland and Washington, D.C., had the highest cancer death rates in the nation. Through targeted efforts to address causes and disparities, Maryland now ranks 31st in the nation, but Washington, D.C., rates remain largely unchanged. Two initiatives in the national capital region are aimed at changing that trend. A 15-year partnership with Howard University is focused on developing research-based strategies to eliminate racial disparities in cancer death rates in Maryland and Washington. In another partnership with Howard University, Sibley Memorial Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and United Medical Center (UMC) are bringing much-needed cancer screening, detection and treatment to the medically underserved and largely African-American neighborhoods of Ward 7 and Ward 8. The program brings Johns Hopkins/Sibley experts to UMC to provide care, but it also provides free transportation to Sibley for services that cannot be provided at UMC.

CUPID
The CUPID program (which stands for Cancer in the Underpriviledged Indigent or Disadvantaged) is a unique,, laboratory-based summer fellowship program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The mission of CUPID is to promote the specialty of oncology to medical students interested in caring for the underserved. The CUPID program is a seven-week summer fellowship, which includes laboratory-based research; lecture series covering topics from basic oncology to specific cancers to health care disparities; clinician shadowing in medical, surgical and radiation oncology clinics; and a visit to the National Cancer Institute to meet researchers addressing health care disparities on a national level.

Community Networks Program
Working with community partners in Baltimore City and Prince George’s County, and through funding by the National Cancer Institute, the Kimmel Cancer Center established a Community Networks Program to explore and analyze the relationship of race and ethnicity versus socioeconomic factors to health. The partners also looked at how income and poverty may affect the success of interventions to reduce cancer disparities.

American Cancer Society Partnership
The Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the South Atlantic Division of the American Cancer Society (ACS) provided healthcare information and education for African-American and Latin-American communities. Staff also helped patients navigate various health services, such as cancer screening.

Partnership for Healthy Seniors
The Partnership for Healthy Seniors is a population-based randomized clinical trial that was conducted to test the efficacy of educational materials vs. the addition of care coordination assisted by a Tablet PC® platform to promote adherence to breast, cervix, colon and prostate cancer screening among African American seniors enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B. Findings of the completed study will be used to design sustainable intervention strategies tailored to older, African-American Adults.

The Avon Access to Breast Health Care Initiative
This initiative was funded by a $10 million grant from the Avon Foundation and provides funding for education and screening services for underserved minority and low-income women in Baltimore City.

Zeta Center for Healthy Aging Partnership
The goal of this program, led by Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, is to ensure health equity, including access to academic medical centers like Johns Hopkins, health education, and disease screening to citizens of the Park Heights Community. The Zeta Center is operated by the Baltimore City Health Department and the Commission on Aging and Retirement Education. The Kimmel Cancer Center is partnering with the Zeta Center to provide cancer education outreach.

B’More Healthy Expo
Nurses from each of the Kimmel Cancer Center’s clinics volunteered at the B’More Healthy Expo to provide expert advice and information to the public on healthy behaviors, such as nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation, and cancer screening.

Information Sessions with Congressman Elijah Cummings
The Johns Hopkins Center for Cancer Disparities has worked with our East Baltimore Medical Center to host information sessions and discussions, “From Survive to Thrive: Equipping Cancer Patients to Live Their Best Life.” Topics have included resources and support available to cancer patients and survivors, practical tips on living healthy, free prevention services, and resources available at local treatment locations. In addition to Congressman Elijah Cummings, representatives from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore City Cancer Program, and prostate and breast cancer survivors and advocates have participated in the events.

Cancer Screening
The Kimmel Cancer Center no longer receives direct Cigarette Restitution Fund Program support for cancer screening in uninsured and minority populations, but it remains a key initiative for our Center. Johns Hopkins Priority Partners, a Medicaid MCO with more than 185,000 participants, and Johns Hopkins community physicians, who care for more than 260,000 patients, continue to meet the needs of Maryland’s underserved populations by providing screenings for colon, prostate, breast, and cervical cancers. Faculty from our gastrointestinal program collaborate with representatives from the Baltimore City Health Department through its CRF Public Health Grant and provide colonoscopy screening to uninsured Baltimore residents.