On Nov. 5, 2014, the Ford Family Foundation announced a $5 million grant to the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)  to expand delivery of prevention and care expertise to rural Oregonians. The grant also contributed to OHSU’s goal of raising $500 million in two years as part of the $1 billion Knight Cancer Challenge campaign.

The Ford Family Foundation grant will provide $2.5 million in support for each of two initiatives to serve rural communities throughout Oregon. The first is the creation of a statewide cancer prevention and outreach network that will provide community health care organizations with access to OHSU Knight Cancer Institute experts in cancer prevention, education, diagnostics, treatment and survivorship, as well as offer support in directing patients to appropriate clinical trials.

Given this network is the first of its kind in Oregon, The Ford Family Foundation grant will cover start-up costs to develop and implement the program – including gathering information about communities’ unique health care needs – which will help make the project affordably scalable.

The second initiative will assist patients who must travel to OHSU for care, and need affordable, temporary accommodations conveniently located near OHSU clinics and hospitals. The grant will help pay for costs associated with construction of guest housing for out-of-town patients and their families, including family-friendly suites. The guest housing facility is part of a planned expansion of OHSU’s South Waterfront campus, and will be built with philanthropic support.

The $5 million grant from The Ford Family Foundation is among the significant contributions local institutions have made to the Knight Cancer Challenge. Nike Co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, launched the $1 billion Knight Cancer Challenge in September 2013 when they announced that they would donate $500 million to help the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute revolutionize the early detection of cancer if an equal amount could be raised by February 2016. Counting this grant from The Ford Family Foundation, more than $440 million has been contributed to date