ABOUT EQUAL HOPE
Equal Hope’s mission is to save lives by eliminating health inequities. We do so by challenging the status quo – striving to understand the context of people’s lives and the barriers they experience, so we can help them achieve their best health and a longer life. Through research, quality assessment & improvements, advocacy, education, and patient navigation, we approach health holistically to achieve sustainable outcomes and true health equity.
As Chicago’s premiere agency addressing health disparities, we provide free mammograms, cervical screenings, primary care placements for underserved communities and more. It is our responsibility to inform, engage, and empower our communities with health information that saves lives.
History
Equal Hope was originally set up in 2008 as the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force after the publication of disturbing research that showed that Chicago had large and growing racial disparities in breast cancer mortality. Focusing on access to high quality diagnostic screenings and follow up treatment, Equal Hope has created the largest multi-institutional collaborative effort in the country dedicated to eliminating health disparities.
From 2005 to 2007, Black women in Chicago died of breast cancer at a rate 62% higher than White women, even though they were diagnosed less often. At the same time, there were only very low breast cancer mortality disparities in New York and San Francisco. This suggested to the founders of Equal Hope that instead of biological differences, this health inequity was driven by structural racism. In other words, Chicago’s inequitable healthcare system was to blame.
Startled by this inequity, the founders brought together a large number of interested Chicagoans, and they brainstormed and had town hall meetings and other convenings for over a year. From this initial work came the first report in October 2007 called “Improving Quality and Reducing Disparities in Breast Cancer Mortality in Metropolitan Chicago.” This report laid out 37 recommendations to the city of Chicago for how to reduce breast cancer disparities. One of the recommendations was the establishment of the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force (now Equal Hope) as a not for profit dedicated to the elimination of this disparity.
The Task Force developed a unique model to analyze Chicago’s breast health system and how it was failing Black women. With that information, we developed an evidence-based, multipronged approach to address this disparity. Our approach involved improving the quality of breast care, advocacy for system change and navigation to help uninsured and underinsured women overcome the systemic barriers to better health outcomes. In 2017, Equal Hope published a paper showing that the disparity in survivorship had been reduced from 62% to 39%; today, that disparity has come down to 32%. Chicago is now #1 in the country in lowering the breast cancer death rate for Black women.
