Where does the money go?

Funding for National and International Programs

Up to 75% of the net revenue raised from the Komen Chicago Race for the Cure®, special events, and the generosity of individual and corporate donors are distributed right back into the Chicagoland Area. The remaining 25% directly supports Komen’s National Research Grant Program.

Committed to caring for those coping with breast cancer while trying to rid future generations of the disease, Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, recently announced $60 million in research grants to U.S. and international scientists. In its 27 years, Komen for the Cure has invested more than $400 million in life-saving research that has touched every major advance in breast cancer treatment and care. “Cancer research has been the cornerstone of our organization since our very first year, and despite the downturn in the economy, our pledge to fund quality research remains unabated. Breast cancer doesn’t care about the economy, and with more than 1.3 million new cases of breast cancer expected this year, the need for new and continuing cancer research is more urgent than ever,” said Hala Moddelmog, Komen’s CEO and President.

The wide spectrum of research to be funded this year by Komen’s National Research Grants Program includes the following:

·   Investigations into treatment and outcome disparities (racial, ethnic) among groups of women,

·   Improved diagnostics and screening (biomarkers, new imaging techniques),

·   New targeted therapy and methods of delivery (nanotechnology),

·   Better understanding of breast cancer types (triple negative breast cancer), and

·   Drug resistance and metastasis.

For a complete listing of research grants approved by Komen's national board of directors click here.

Funding to Fulfill the Promise to End Breast Cancer Right Here in our Community

The Chicagoland Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® is a grant-making organization. As one of a network of more than 125 affiliates around the country, the Chicagoland Area Affiliate contributes to the Komen mission by awarding funds to not-for-profit organizations that provide innovative, non-duplicative breast health and breast cancer services directly to the medically underserved, uninsured, or underinsured individuals. The Komen Chicagoland Area Affiliate is organized by more than four hundred volunteers. This enables the affiliate to keep its administrative costs as low as possible and allows the organization to fund many worthy programs that provide assistance to women who have traditionally been medically underserved. Our affiliate is reaching into surrounding communities to keep the subject of breast cancer high in the public consciousness. Since 1997, Komen Chicagoland Area Affiliate has raised over $10 million toward local education, screening, and treatment for underserved women and national research.

Community-Based Grants

Through our Community-Based Grants program, we awards grants to non-profit organizations providing breast cancer screening and treatment as well as breast health education and survivor support in one of the following counties: Cook, CuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry. We are currently funding 17 innovative projects totaling $1,068,825. Applications are available each August.

Our net proceeds will target local grant programs that:

·   Pay for mammograms, diagnostic testing and treatment as needed,

·   Educate women, particularly those who are medically underserved, about the importance of breast self-awareness, clinical breast exams and screening mammograms,

·   Focus on treatment support as well as providing easier access to existing treatment resources for women with breast cancer, and

·   Provide financial assistance that may include covering the cost of breast screening, diagnostic and treatment related services or aid in eliminating other financial barriers to treatment.

2009 Community Health Grants

• To find out if you qualify for one of the Komen-funded programs listed below, please contact the identified staff person for assistance.

Early Diagnosis and Treatment

A bilingual Breast Health Advocate facilitates financial eligibility, mammography and treatment at CSM for low-income women in Milwaukee.

Claudia Guevara
(414) 333-2206
Columbia St. Mary’s

Bright Pink Outreach Program for High-Risk Young Women                          

Breast cancer education for high risk young women.  This program will provide six educational sessions throughout Chicago, three of which will target young African-American, Hispanic and lesbian women.

Bright Pink

Lindsay Avner, Executive Director

(312) 519-9509

Breast Cancer Early Detection Project for Korean Women

Providing culturally and linguistically appropriate education and outreach services to increase breast cancer awareness and prevention in the Korean American community through workshops and case management services.

Korean American Community Services

Jun Hoe Kim, Director of Community Health

(773) 583-5501

Breast Health Outreach

Providing linguistically and culturally appropriate education and linkages to screening and treatment to low-income and medically underserved women in Chicago’s South & West Sides.

Access Community Health Network

(866) 88-ACCESS

Breast Cancer Screening Program

Breast cancer screenings low-income uninsured, primarily minority, women.  Supplements important activities of the Illinois Breast & Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP).

DuPage County Health Department

Marie Doll, Manager of Women’s Health Program

(630) 682-7400

State of the Art Breast Cancer Risk & Prevention Program for Underserved Women

This project provides predominantly minority women with access to breast cancer risk assessment, genetic counseling and testing as well as chemoprevention trials.

Stroger Hospital of Cook County

Dr. Pamela Ganschow, Director of Breast & Cervical Screening Program

Breast Care for Low-Income Women Program

Breast cancer education and outreach to low-income uninsured and underinsured African-American and Hispanic women of the Near West side focusing on delivering navigation and screening mammography services.

Saints Mary & Elizabeth Medical Center

Gladys Aguirre, Manager, Community Education

(773) 278-2000

Breast & Cervical Cancer Screening Program

Breast health education, clinical breast exams, and screenings for women of the Albany Park area.  

Erie Family Health Center

(312) 666-3494

Breast Care for Low-Income Women

Free mammography screening for low-income uninsured and underinsured Hispanic and African American women in the northern Chicago/Evanston area.

Saint Francis Hospital

John Smith

(847) 316-4000

Project Access

No-cost/low cost clinic for low income and medically underserved, primarily Hispanic women in McHenry county.  The clinic also provides outreach, education, clinical breast exams, and screening mammography.    

Family Health Partnership Clinic

Suzanne Hoban, Executive Director

(815) 334-8987

Health Advocacy in Motion- Breast Cancer Awareness and Advocacy

Program

Community outreach program, serving predominantly underserved African-American women in the Woodlawn and Englewood communities by training women to become health educators and health advocates within their communities.

Sisters Working it Out, nfp

Kimberly McCullum, Project Director

(708) 862-2917

A Day For You

Breast cancer awareness and early detection in the African-American, Hispanic, and Polish populations.

Breast Cancer Network of Strength IL

Ester Diaz, Program Manager

(312)986-8338

Boomers & Beyond: A Breast Education Plan

Education for 300 women ages 65 and older on the benefits of breast self exams, mammography, and early detection in McHenry, DuPage and Kane counties.

Provena Saint Joseph Hospital

Andrea Duval

(847) 695-3200

Su Salud/Su Vida (Your Health/Your Life)

Trans-cultural breast cancer education and early detection workshops for low-income, uninsured Chinese women residing in Chicago's South Side neighborhoods.

Metro South Medical Center's Women's Health Program

Sandra Wilks, RN

(708) 597-2000 or (708) 385-1702

Women Together Breast Screening

Breast health outreach and screening in North and South Lawndale through the efforts of two parish nurses.

Saint Anthony Hospital

Rosemary Meganck

(773) 484-1000

Woman to Woman

Comprehensive, integrated, and patient-centered breast health services targeting the medically underserved of Chicago’s West Side community.

Sinai Community Institute

Cynthia Williams, Director

(773)257-6936

ENCOREplus

Provides low-income under/uninsured minority women in Lake County with full outreach, breast cancer education and mammography services.

YWCA Lake County

Shaunta McGee

(847) 662-4247

Austin Breast Cancer Awareness Project

Breast cancer education for African-American women in the Austin and Garfield Park neighborhoods, using peer education model, to inform community members via quarterly town hall meetings, monthly small group educational sessions, and facilitation of the process at neighborhood hospitals to ensure timely assessment procedures.

Westside Health Authority

Cody McSellers-McCray

(773) 786-0249

To download the 2009 Komen Chicagoland Area Grantee Directory, click here.

Komen Chicagoland Area Affiliate does not determine individual eligibility, make referrals, influence the screening or treatment decisions, of theorganizations we fund.

If you have any questions, please contact Leticia Kees, Manager of Mission Initiatives at (773) 444-0061 or lkees@komenchicago.org