Who We Are

Women's Cancer Action is here. We are here to talk about cancer. We want you to talk about cancer with us and with each other. We are all here to speak up, make noise, and be heard. Take a minute to join the discussion forums, learn something new about cancer, and share it with someone else.

Our Mission and Vision

Mission
Women's Cancer Action is committed to preventing cancer and supporting people affected by cancer.

Vision
Women's Cancer Action works from the roots up. We challenge society, engage communities, and support women and their families to actively participate in their health and the health of their environments. Women's Cancer Action creates change through support, outreach, advocacy, education, partnership, and political action.

Our Roots

The WCA Board (l to r): Barbra Wiener, Emily Hamilton, Jen Cash, Ceci Shapland, Linda Simon. Not pictured, Sarah Schaeffer.

The Women's Cancer Resource Center (WCRC) was founded in Minneapolis, MN, in 1992, as a non-profit organization focused on providing information and support for women during their cancer journey. Insurmountable financial hardship forced WCRC to close its doors in 2006, but the demand for clarity in the perpetually murky arena of cancer prevention and treatment continues, making the need for Women's Cancer Action greater than ever.

Women's Cancer Action started one cold January day in 2007, in St. Paul, MN, when Barbra Wiener, founder of WCRC, gathered a handful of former staff, board members, and eager volunteers to talk about the necessity of a broad-reaching 21st century cancer resource for women. We imagined a virtual space where women everywhere could interact, support and learn from each other, get informed about the entire cancer landscape, and most importantly, take charge of their cancer experiences.

Since that day, we have been hard at work, defining our collective vision as a grass roots cancer organization with the goal of offering women opportunities to:

  • Advocate for themselves, their families and their communities
  • Demand more attention be paid to links between cancer and environmental toxins
  • Challenge lawmakers to improve our health care policies
  • Hold pharmaceutical companies accountable, and to
  • Think Before You Pink.

 

We dedicate this website to founding board member Yvonne Ortiz.