Communities Against Cancer

DCA is working with Action Hampshire and the Wessex Cancer Alliance to bring funding to Dorset organisations. Anyone working with groups of people who have barriers to getting health information or accessing services is welcome to apply. You can find out more about the Communities Against Cancer project here.

In some seldom-heard communities, awareness of cancer is low. These grants are for work that encourages people to attend cancer screenings (breast cancer, bowel cancer and prostate cancer), visit a GP to get signs or symptoms checked and feel more comfortable talking about cancer.

Barriers such as health literacy levels, language barriers, cultural differences, or stigmas prevent some people from seeking medical advice, so organisations already working with those people and groups can make a big difference.

Apply for Funding

Your project should be designed to raise awareness of the issues in a way that the people you work with can understand. Whether you translate an information leaflet, work with your audience to develop materials that they find useful, or put on an event at a local venue, your expertise can make a huge difference. This is the sort of innovative work Wessex Cancer Alliance want to fund. You don’t have to be an expert on cancer as training is given. You can reserve a place on Action Hampshire’s workshops here as well as attending our own events

There are three levels of funding:

£750 for a one-off cancer awareness event or a short-term, small-scale awareness initiative
£1,500 for a series of events or a medium-term awareness initiative involving a larger audience
£2,500 for a more in-depth project including a Health Champion.

Details of how to apply, what sorts of things will be funded, how you can measure the impact of what you do and much more are available in DCA’s guide to the funding which you can download below.

How to apply for the grant

If you have any queries, please email DCA at caro.hart@dorsetcommunityaction.org.uk

You can also contact the team at Action Hampshire. If you need additional support to apply or need the guidance notes or application form in a different format, please get in touch at cac@actionhampshire.org

We are also putting on some events alongside this project:

Thursday 22nd October – An online event which will be at 2pm. This will look at raising cancer awareness, how to apply for funding and the work of Health Champions. We will have speakers from Action Hampshire, as well as our own funding expert Caro Hart and current Health Champion, Liz Kite, from Dorset Coast Radio. This event will be in conjunction with Day 2 of Dorset Race Equality Council’s event ‘Unseen Unheard’ being held at Bournemouth University, view and download the poster here.
Thursday 5th November – A repeat of the above online event which will be at 2pm (please note this is minus the in person ‘Unseen Unheard’ event being run by DREC).
Thursday 19th November – An in-person event from 1.30pm to 3.30pm, (with a networking lunch starting at 12.30pm), at Wimborne Community Centre 41-44 King Street, Wimborne Minster, BH21 1EB. This will look at how Health Champions and local projects are making a real difference

Please click here to reserve a place on one or both of these events. You will receive full details of the agendas and speakers nearer the time of the events.

Health Champions

Health Champions bridge gap between NHS and the community. Some communities see cancer as a taboo subject and prefer not to speak about it or get their signs and symptoms checked by a medical professional. For others there may be language or cultural barriers preventing them from accessing cancer information or attending screenings. The Health Champions offer trusted support and are skilled at starting conversations around cancer, a subject which many find challenging to discuss.

Your organisation can apply for a grant to support your work as a Health Champion (it is mandatory for the larger grants that your organisation nominate a Health Champion), but the role will exist beyond 31st December 2026 and so you can apply as a Health Champion, whether or not you are currently applying for a grant. You should do so as soon as possible.

Time commitment: Around 5 hours per month for a minimum of six-months

Based at: Your own organisation

Reporting to: You report to the Health Champions Project Coordinator at Action Hampshire

You will gain: Training and support from the CAC team. Confidence in delivering cancer awareness information to your community. You will also have the opportunity to develop new connections across the Communities Against Cancer and Health Champion network.

See the Funding Guide for a fuller description of what the role entails.

Here is the link to the application form for Health Champions. After you have applied you will be invited to an interview to discuss the role and assess your suitability. Then you will be invited to the next available induction and training programme.