About Us

Mission

The mission of Redes En Acción is to develop a national cancer network that engages in cancer research, training and awareness activities to reduce the disparate impact of cancer on this nation's 41 million Latinos.

History of Redes En Acción

Recognizing the limited information on cancer awareness reaching Latinos and the genuine barriers to health care faced by this population, in 1992 the National Hispanic Leadership Initiative on Cancer: En Acción launched the first comprehensive assessment of cancer risk factors among Hispanic men and women.

Under the direction of Dr. Ramirez from 1992 to 2000, the NCI-funded NHLIC: En Acción developed community outreach programs and implemented cancer prevention and control strategies tailored to the diverse Latino groups residing in Brooklyn, Miami, San Francisco, San Diego, San Antonio and Brownsville, Texas. The multi-site research and community outreach program developed and implemented state-of-the-art cancer prevention and control strategies tailored to major populations of Latinos: Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Central and South Americans.

New NCI-Funded Initiative Organizes National and Regional Hispanic Cancer Networks: In 2000, as part of a $60 effort announced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to address the unequal burden of cancer within certain special populations in this country, Redes En Acción received a five-year (2000-2005) $8.4 million grant from the Special Populations Networks (SPN) for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training in an initiative intended to build relationships between large research institutions and community-based programs.

Redes En Acción program was funded by one of 18 grants at 17 institutions creating or implementing cancer control, prevention, research and training programs in minority and underserved populations. By establishing Regional Network Centers across the country, Redes En Acción expanded the existing infrastructure of NHLIC: En Acción to the Midwest with a new North Central Regional Network Center in Chicago. With this national infrastructure in place, Redes En Acción worked to prioritize cancer issues related to Latinos, and promote cancer research, training and public education activities based on these priorities.

Redes En Acción Activities Continue Under New NCI Community Networks Initiative: Following the first five years of the initiative, Redes En Acción had formed the most extensive collaboration of organizations ever assembled to address cancer disparities in Latino populations. Supported by a new five-year (2005-2010), $7.2 million National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant from the NCI's Community Networks Program (CNP) initiative, Redes En Acción will continue to expand upon its efforts to fight cancer in Latino communities throughout the United States.

The $95 million NCI Community Networks Program initiative is aimed at reducing cancer deaths among minority and underserved populations through community-based cancer prevention and control activities in geographically and culturally diverse areas of the country. Redes En Acción is one of up to 25 projects to be funded by the initiative targeting cancer disparities in Hispanics/Latinos, African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asians, Hawaiian Natives and other Pacific Islanders, and the rural poor.

Of the CNP programs funded, Redes En Acción is one of only six with a nationwide focus. Other funded programs will have either a local or regional scope of activities. Under the CNP initiative, Redes En Acción will maintain the infrastructure developed under the Special Populations Networks program and expand its network activities as part of NCI's ongoing efforts to understand why some populations groups -- often minorities and the poor -- have higher cancer rates than others, and to eliminate disparities by involving local communities in education, research, and training.