C4 is a statewide, 501-c(3) all-volunteer non-profit organization consisting of academic clinicians, Kaiser physicians, public health practitioners (nonprofits, regional and state health departments), CRC survivors and advocates, researchers, clinicians working for or with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), and a CA tribal nations representative. We are united in our mission to save lives and reduce suffering from colorectal cancer in all Californians with a strong focus on making it easier for patients to access the care they need in a timely fashion.
The California Colorectal Cancer Coalition’s (C4) Community Grants program has served as a vital resource to CA FQHCs working to improve preventive care, also known as screening, related to colorectal cancer since its inception in 2013 through effective evidence-based interventions (EBI) at the community level. C4 has developed a model system, our C4 Community Grants program, that promotes linkage of community health partners to resources and specialty services that fall outside care provisions within FQHC. The aim is that these organizations can then provide the full spectrum of care to patients identified as needing secondary confirmatory colonoscopies and other care as needed for advanced lesions needing some type of surgery or oncology care. C4 has distributed over $740,000 to 81 health systems, primarily FQHCs, to provide resources for their efforts to improve access to the care continuum for CRC beginning with improving their screening rates and promoting best practices for timely delivery of care for those having abnormal tests by screening.
We also now manage a second community grants program promoting improved screening rates for both breast and colorectal cancer using evident-based interventions as part of a tri-organizational collaboration between C4, the CA Department of Health Care Services, and the CA Department of Public Health. Donated funds also help in support of colorectal cancer materials, such as screening kits, for the FQHC in CA that are also Every Woman Counts providers, as the pilot funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do no allow CRC screening supplies to be charged to the pilot project.
As an aside, our original Federal Tax ID number/origination date was associated with an HPV nonprofit based in LA and established in 1997, but the number was transferred to C4 in approximately 2009, along with a new mission and objectives specific to colorectal cancer (information included to avoid any confusion).