PA BCERF/ NALIC

The Northern Appalachia Leadership Initiative on Cancer (NALIC)

Mission	To build local, sustainable, cancer control coalitions composed of community residents and members of local health and human service organizations who will work together to bring needed cancer services and educational programs to the families of rural medically-underserved Appalachian communities.
Target Sites	Originally, NALIC project counties included Allegheny, Indiana, Elk, Lawrence, Venango, Crawford, Forest, Clearfield, Tioga, Susquehanna, Montour, Columbia, Snyder, Schuykill, Greene and Wyoming counties in Pennsylvania and Chautauqua and Delaware counties in New York. At this time, affiliation with NALIC is open to any rural low income community, county or multi-county area in the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania and New York.
Principal Partners	American Cancer Society, in Pennsylvania, & New York, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute; Cancer Information Service of the National Cancer Institute; Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy at Penn State University; Pennsylvania Department of Health, Cancer Control Program; Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health; Pennsylvania Commonwealth Libraries, and Family Health Council, Inc.
Project Support	NALIC Staff provide technical support and skills training to all coalition members and partners on the topics of health education, cancer program planning, marketing and media strategies, low literacy materials development, cancer library resource development, storytelling, coalition building, leadership development, volunteer recruitment, negotiation and team problem solving.
Project Goals	1. Mobilize lay and professional leaders and local residents to develop and support community cancer control coalitions that focus on the needs of rural families. 2. Develop, disseminate, and/or support cancer outreach, education, and screening programs that address the needs of low income families in rural Appalachian communities. 3. Create a network of community cancer control coalitions throughout Appalachia. 4. Stimulate cancer control data collection and research efforts. 5. Evaluate the effectiveness of the programs, partnerships, and outcomes of this initiative.
Project Rationale	The need for community-wide prevention for cancer risk reduction is the rationale behind the NALIC project. The efforts of the NALIC coalitions, are based upon the concept that chronic health conditions, such as cancer, are the result of individual high-risk health behaviors, as well as the social environment that shapes those behaviors. The NALIC project is committed to building partnerships among volunteers, survivors, and staff from Cooperative Extension, the American Cancer Society, and other diverse community organizations to plan cancer programs and leverage resources for cancer services in their communities. To effectively reach low income families with cancer education and services, coalitions have developed the skills to assess their communities' cancer needs and to plan programs to strategically address both the behavioral and the social issues that contribute to cancer risk. These citizen-mobilized coalitions take the responsibility for determining solutions to their own cancer issues, making programs more appropriate to their community and counteracting the sense of fatality that often accompanies chronic illness for the medically-underserved.

The NALIC project, administered through Penn State University, was funded by the National Cancer Institute from October 1993 through March, 2000. As funding came to a close on this phase of the initiative, NALIC coalitions became sustainable and have maintained their own momentum with the resources and support of their communities. For more information, contact the northern regional office of the Appalachia Cancer Network at (814) 863-8693.