Roswell Park Welcomes Western New York Into New Community Outreach & Engagement Center

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has transformed a 150-year-old residence at 907 Michigan Ave., blending history and vision into a welcoming new home for its community outreach: the Roswell Park Community Outreach & Engagement Center. Roswell Park team members, patients, advocates and community leaders gathered for a grand opening of the renovated and expanded space Wednesday.

The center houses services focused on advancing health equity and improving health outcomes for communities across Western New York, including cancer awareness, educational programs, navigation to cancer screening, financial wellness programming and space for community gatherings.

“We proudly invite our community to this beautiful center they inspired and informed,” says Candace S. Johnson, PhD, President, CEO and M&T Bank Presidential Chair in Leadership at Roswell Park. “We’re deeply grateful to the many partners who helped us create a space that has the people of this community built into every corner, nook and detail. We extend appreciative and heartfelt thanks to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, Sen. Tim Kennedy, Mayor Byron Brown, Young + Wright Architectural, the Fruit Belt Coalition, the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor and community members all around us for their collaborative support.”

“We’re excited to be able to quite literally open our home to our neighbors,” says Elizabeth Bouchard, PhD, Senior Vice President and Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement. “Even in our first weeks in this beautiful center, we’ve seen the power of spontaneous moments of connection. Having this beautiful space as a home base for our outreach helps us make conversations about cancer risk and wellness relatable, comfortable and deeply effective.”

“The new Community Outreach and Engagement Center is small and intimate,” says breast cancer survivor and patient advocate Veronica Meadows Ray, who spoke at the opening. “I think patients who might be overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the main hospital will appreciate having 907 Michigan as another option in the community. I am sure this new facility will help reach even more folks, and I am proud and humbled to be part of this new community facility.”

Roswell Park has one of the oldest and most active Community Outreach and Engagement teams in the nation focused on reducing cancer’s disproportionately high burden on communities of color, Indigenous communities, and high-risk communities in rural, urban and suburban areas. The new facility is home to many of Roswell Park’s broad outreach teams, including specialized programs like The Witness Project and Esperanza y Vida that navigate people at higher risk of cancer to screening and services. Over the last five years, the Roswell Park outreach team has served more than 65,000 community members through culturally appropriate outreach.

The 5,900-square foot Roswell Park Community Outreach & Engagement Center sits on a half-acre lot. Designed by Young + Wright Architectural and built by Telco Construction Inc., the center features office space, a large conference room and a community resource area providing public access to computers, as well as an outdoor garden. The project preserved and restored a home built in 1878, with a newly added wing that includes floor-to-ceiling glass and a window-lined corridor. Inside the space, custom-designed wallpaper features buildings of historical and cultural significance to the African American community in Buffalo.

Roswell Park gratefully acknowledges the generosity of local organizations and the Walter Lane Living Trust in providing support toward this project, which also was made possible through a $2 million allocation from New York State.

To schedule a tour of the Roswell Park Community Outreach & Education Center, drop in to take a cancer risk assessment or learn more about screening or education opportunities, please call Kandice Hailey at 716-845-8340.

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From the world’s first chemotherapy research to the PSA prostate cancer biomarker, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center generates innovations that shape how cancer is detected, treated and prevented worldwide. Driven to eliminate cancer’s grip on humanity, the Roswell Park team of 4,000 makes compassionate, patient-centered cancer care and services accessible across New York State and beyond. Founded in 1898, Roswell Park was among the first three cancer centers nationwide to become a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and is the only one to hold this designation in Upstate New York. To learn more about Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Roswell Park Care Network, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email ASKRoswell@RoswellPark.org.