Where The Money Goes

The money we raise funds programs to empower cancer survivors. Our programs impacted the lives of over 15,000 cancer survivors in 2011 through education, community outreach, and survivor programs at local hospitals and cancer centers across Connecticut. Our ambitious five year goal is help 30,000 survivors per year.

The Connecticut Challenge was founded in June 2005 with an initial goal of creating a cancer survivorship clinic to serve the residents of Connecticut. That goal was met in 2006 with the opening of the CT Challenge Survivorship Clinic at Yale Cancer Center.

Since that time, the Connecticut Challenge has expanded its support to Survivorship clinics and programs across the State through the CT Challenge Survivorship Network; funding grants for clinical research; continuing education programs for healthcare professionals; and educational programs for survivors and their families.

The CT Challenge now provides financial support to:

• Survivorship clinics and programs and Survivor Day celebrations at 13 hospitals across Connecticut who are members of the CT Challenge Survivorship Network.

• The CT Challenge Center for Survivorship, opening in 2012, will be a state-of-the-art wellness facility staffed by experts in exercise, nutrition and psycho-social support who are specifically qualified to work with cancer survivors.

• 30 college scholarships for survivors of pediatric cancers through a grant to the Susan Fund.

• The CT Challenge Survivorship Summit, an annual event for medical professionals that brings together experts in survivorship from every hospital in the state, along with leaders in survivorship from cancer centers around the country, to share best practices in order to improve care for cancer survivors.

• The Connecticut Challenge Speaker Series, educational, cultural and awareness raising events for cancer survivors and members of the general public featuring compelling speakers who have a connection to cancer survivorship and that help cancer survivors to become empowered to optimize their health and well being.

• Our innovative website. Educating, motivating and guiding cancer survivors to qualified survivorship resources, in addition to our video series and online content written exclusively for the CT Challenge by experts in the field.

• Pilot research projects in cancer survivorship at Yale Cancer Center, one of which resulted in $2.5 million in addditional NIH funding to expand the study.