Tammy Walker Cancer Center is one of fifteen Kansas agencies to receive a Chronic Disease Risk Reduction (CDRR) grant from the Kansas Department of Health & Environment (KDHE).
The $29,700 grant provides funding, training, and technical assistance to address chronic disease risk reduction through evidence-based strategies that impact tobacco use, physical activity, and nutrition.
Strategies include reducing secondhand smoke exposure, preventing youth from using tobacco, promoting tobacco treatment and the Kansas Tobacco Quitline, increasing physical activity, and improving community nutrition.
Grant benefits
Daniel Craig, Cancer Center Outreach Coordinator, was the lead grant writer and will be project manager for the Saline County CDRR grant.
“The Chronic Disease Risk Reduction grant enables us to bring everyone together, so rather than doing a lot of great individual programs and efforts, we can work more collaboratively as a community,” Craig said. “Being part of the Chronic Disease Risk Reduction program provides opportunities for us to learn from other communities and share things that have helped us be successful. This planning grant enables us to expand the capacity of Saline County organizations to address chronic disease risk reduction and better align community goals.”
Cancer center’s reach
Tammy Walker Cancer Center also serves as the fiduciary agent for LiveWell Saline County Coalition and its work on the 2-year $100,000 Pathways to A Healthy Kansas grant initiative that started on January 1, 2025. The 1-year CDRR grant will complement that effort.
In total, the 2026 CDRR program covers 15 grantees, 25 counties and 1,972,817 Kansans (65.5 percent of the total Kansas population). The other grantees are:
- Cherokee County Health Department (Cherokee county)
- Crawford County Health Department (Crawford county)
- United Way of the Flint Hills (Lyon county)
- Edwards County Economic
- Development (Edwards and Hodgeman counties)
- Finney County Community Health Coalition (Finney, Morton, Scott, Stanton counties)
- Harvey County Health Department (Harvey county)
- Johnson County Department of Health and Environment (Johnson county)
- Medical Society of Sedgwick County (Sedgwick county)
- Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department (Douglas county)
- Marion County Health Department (Marion county)
- Mitchell County Regional Medical Foundation (Mitchell, Ellsworth, Jewell, Lincoln, Ottawa, Republic and Smith counties)
- Reno County Health Department (Reno county)
- Shawnee County Health Department (Shawnee county)
- Unified Government of Wyandotte (Wyandotte county)
Learn more about the CDRR Community Grant Program here.
