Cancer and aging: Linking community partners for adocacy & policy change

Background: D-CNP members share the goal of providing information, services and advocacy to seniors. To date, cancer has not played a major role in the conception of many CNP participants' organizational missions, despite research indicating that African Americans have the highest death rates of any ethnic group for cancer and disparities continue to increase. The Detroit Community Network Program (D-CNP) for Older, Underserved African Americans is focusing its efforts on developing partnerships among community leaders, researchers and medical professionals to facilitate education, research and advocacy aimed at reducing cancer disparities. Objectives: Partners are exploring ways to engage seemingly unrelated organizations to maximize energy, human capital and existing resources to influence policies inhibiting improved health outcomes in the African American community. Methods: Through baseline study, D-CNP partners are rethinking approaches that address older African-Americans' needs for access and utilization of cancer information and care. Challenging traditional thinking about operating in distinct service genres, the D-CNP recognizes an opportunity to address barriers faced in accessing and navigating uncoordinated healthcare and service systems. Findings: Early findings suggest that partners lack a clear understanding of how they can impact cancer health disparities through organizational missions and policy. An additional challenge is maintaining funding and vital services while facing threats to eliminate programs. Conclusions: By evaluating the impact of our network model based on resource exchange, we intend to motivate organization board members to influence elected officials and state and federal legislators to formulate long-term approaches to mitigating cancer health disparities.