2023 Elevate Ambassador Criteria and Application

Improving Cancer Survivorship Care Begins In Your Backyard

Elevate Ambassadors are advocates and survivorship professionals who work to improve survivorship care in their communities. Ambassadors receive mentorship, support, networking opportunities, and in-person training to develop and execute a plan-of-action for their project to serve their local or virtual community.

It may seem like no small task for Elevate Ambassadors to make a difference in cancer care in their communities — that’s because it isn’t. Yet, it’s an incredible opportunity to receive the training and mentorship to make a real difference for survivors and their loved ones who are neighbors, colleagues, friends, and more.

2023 Elevate Ambassador Application Deadline: June 16, 2023 at 11:59 PM ET.

A sample of 2022 Elevate Ambassador projects:

• Art of Awareness Campaign to elevate voices of Oral Head and Neck Cancer survivors
• Doctoral dissertation on health literacy evaluation of resources provided on NCI designated Cancer Centers’ websites
• Faith-based outreach program for a survivorship clinic in Camden, New Jersey
• Patient Advocacy Curriculum for those diagnosed with breast cancer in Flint, Michigan
• Survivorship Provider Toolkit for a Cancer Center in Memphis, Tennessee

2023 Ambassador Program

NCCS’s State of Cancer Survivorship Survey: 2022 revealed disparities in cancer care by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geography, education, and age at the time of their diagnosis. These disparities result in disproportionately negative impacts on survivors’ careers, finances, and overall health.

NCCS believes collaborating with advocates and survivorship professionals on a local level is a critical step toward addressing inequity. We welcome advocates and survivorship professionals who are passionate about improving survivorship in their community to apply to the 2023 Elevating Survivorship Ambassador Program. While we encourage all to apply, we are especially interested in projects that address health inequities. Ambassadors will receive support, mentorship, and training throughout the two-year program to successfully direct their project.

Criteria

An Ambassador must be:

• An advocate or survivorship professional (researcher, health care provider, or survivorship program manager), age 18 or older, who has been touched by cancer.
• Committed to working at the local level to improve survivorship.
• A resident of the United States of America.

Preferred Expertise & Composition. Ideal Ambassadors have general knowledge of survivorship, have developed relationships in the cancer community, and have the public speaking skills needed to be a part of presentations and trainings in virtual and in-person settings.

Program and Time Commitment

• Ambassadors will implement a specific project, including completing a needs assessment, developing goals, creating a project plan and timeline, and implementing the plan.
• Virtual kick-off meeting on August 2, 2023 at 4:00 pm ET
• Attendance at an in-person training* in Washington, DC on August 24 and 25, 2023. Travel and lodging for Ambassadors will be paid for by NCCS.
• Learning collaborative calls/webinars with educational topics on the following Wednesdays at 4:00 pm ET:
  • September 13, 2013
  • November 8, 2023
  • January 24, 2024
  • March 13, 2024
  • May 15, 2024
• Mentorship and support by NCCS team.
• Report progress on project plan goals and action items.
• Ambassadors will be encouraged to identify a “sponsor/partner/mentor” who will be a point-of-contact for them in their community and work collaboratively with them. This partnership will become a source of accountability and guide the process of sharing their project with the community.

*Subject to change