By Annette Pinder
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has transformed a 150-year-old residence at 907 Michigan Avenue, blending history and vision into a welcoming new home for its community outreach. The center houses services focused on advancing health equity and improving health outcomes for communities across Western New York, including cancer awareness, educational programs, navigation to cancer screening, financial wellness programming, and free space for community gatherings.
“We proudly invite our community to this beautiful center they inspired and informed,” says Candace S. Johnson, PhD, President, CEO of Roswell Park. “We’re deeply grateful to the many partners who helped us create a space that has the people of this community built into every corner, nook and detail. We extend appreciative and heartfelt thanks to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, Sen. Tim Kennedy, Mayor Byron Brown, Young + Wright Architectural, the Fruit Belt Coalition, the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor, and community members for their collaborative support.”
“We’re excited to be able to quite literally open our home to our neighbors,” says Elizabeth Bouchard, PhD, Senior Vice President and Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement. “Having this beautiful space as a home base for our outreach helps us make conversations about cancer risk and wellness relatable, comfortable and deeply effective.”
“The new Community Outreach and Engagement Center is small and intimate,” says breast cancer survivor and patient advocate Veronica Meadows Ray. “I think patients who might be overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the main hospital will appreciate having 907 Michigan as another option in the community.”
Roswell Park has one of the oldest and most active Community Outreach and Engagement teams in the nation focused on reducing cancer’s disproportionately high burden on communities of color, Indigenous communities, and high-risk communities in rural, urban and suburban areas. The new facility is home to many of Roswell Park’s broad outreach teams, including specialized programs like The Witness Project and Esperanza y Vida that navigate people at higher risk of cancer to screening and services. Over the last five years, the Roswell Park outreach team has served more than 65,000 community members through culturally appropriate outreach.
The building has available computers for anyone who wants to stop in and look up cancer information, learn about or apply for jobs, write resumes, or take care of other needs.
“This is a community space,” says Nikia Clark, Senior Community Outreach and Engagement Manager. “I’ve met people at various health fairs and I know they don’t have a space they can use. I tell them, come visit me! We have this awesome room you can utilize for your event or meeting.”
To schedule a tour of the Roswell Park Community Outreach & Education Center, drop in to take a cancer risk assessment or learn more about screening or education opportunities, please call Kandice Hailey at 716-845-8340. See https://www.roswellpark.org/research/community-outreach-engagement to learn more about the Community Outreach & Engagement team and the programs and services they provide.
