Building Evidence-Based Action into Community Outreach Networks (BEACON)

BEACON is a collaborative project involving Saint Louis University’s Prevention Research Center (SLU-PRC), National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service (NCI-CIS), and the NCI-designated Center for Cultural Cancer Communication (4C) at SLU. BEACON will work together with community partners to further its capacity to support and participate in cancer prevention and control research in African American communities.

Purpose
BEACON wants to build partnerships with community cancer programs to connect research and practice, link community partners to existing resources and provide training on adapting and using programs shown to work in other settings. We believe that the best way to reduce the burden of cancer in communities experiencing cancer health disparities is to work together in developing and using programs (e.g. awareness, screening and educational) that have either been proven to work or have a high likelihood of success when put into practice.

What BEACON does:

• Provides training in how community partners can adopt and adapt cancer programs that have been shown to be successful through research and evaluation (i.e. evidence-based programs).

• Connects community partners to each other and to existing resources.

• Conducts regular forums among network members to identify and prioritize community needs.

• Provides opportunities for shared funding to evaluate and/or disseminate evidence-based approaches.

• Conducts joint research with community partners to further test the effectiveness of health interventions and add to the body of evidence.
  

Did you know…?

• The network will include community partners in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Chicago.

• These communities are home to over 1.4 million African Americans.

• Each of these cities has cancer mortality rates that are higher than national averages for African American men and women.

• Innovative community partnerships can greatly improve how cancer information is provided in African American communities.

• BEACON is part of a larger, national Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN).
  

Links

• Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network

• Center for Cultural Cancer Information

• National Cancer Institute - Cancer Information Service