In completion of its fourth cycle of impact, Keep A Breast Foundation (KAB) has continued its commitment to alleviating systemic disparities in healthcare for women of color by providing 300 unrestricted grants for breast cancer survivors and patients this past cycle.
To-date, KAB has awarded 1,047 grants to women of color patients and survivors, totaling nearly half a million dollars.
The Give Back Grant (GBG) program was created out of recognition for the challenges more often faced by women of color with breast cancer, including higher death rates and late stage and aggressive breast cancer diagnoses, especially for Black women, as well as healthcare access limitations, financial barriers and social determinants of health including poverty and lack of nutritious food. These women also face underrepresentation in research and implicit bias.
In the GBG’s most recent cycle, more than 800 women submitted grant applications. Over half of these women had no previous family history of breast cancer. Nearly 30% of applicants also stated that their diagnoses were Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, and Ductal Carcinoma in Situ. And nearly 50% of applicants detected their breast cancer during a breast self-check, a key measure that KAB champions as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on breast health education and early detection.
The majority of applicants for Cycle 4 ranged in age between 35-44 years old, and more than 75% identified themselves as Black women, followed by 12% Hispanic or Latina.
As the grants are unrestricted, awardees have the opportunity to use the $500 funds as most needed in their lives, whether that be for medical expenses, transportation, living expenses or wellness and self-care.
Grant recipients have also used the funds to start their own business, to support other breast cancer patients and survivors and to embrace life with a well-deserved vacation.
“I used my grant to go to Disneyland with my best friends from high school, and to go to Portland to be with my cancer bestie as she passed from metastatic breast cancer,” Jess Isomoto, a 2022 GBG Recipient and 2023 GBG selection committee member said. “I used my grant to ride the rollercoaster of life with my favorite people.”
KAB aims to continue to grow the program through donor support and that of its charitable partners, and will open the application window for Cycle 5 in Fall of 2024.
