By Carol Moody Becker and Crystal D. Swann
December 12, 2005

In addition to issuing proclamations and conducting public information campaigns, mayors reported on working with coalitions to promote 2005 National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month––offering education and screening as appropriate. Tailoring their efforts to meet local needs––with an emphasis on reaching the uninsured and underinsured––the coalitions included the:

• American Cancer Society (ACS);

• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP);

• local hospitals; and

• a state health department.

Concerned also about their own employees, mayors offered various ways for city personnel to address prostate cancer:

• held prostate cancer awareness and education programs for city employees;

• provided prostate cancer screening for city personnel; and

• gave extra time off to city employee for prostate cancer screening.

Some examples of mayors and their prostate cancer awareness activities during the month of September 2005 are:

• Denver (CO) Mayor John Hickenlooper arranged to have the City and County Building illuminated in blue, the awareness color for prostate cancer;

• Norwalk (CT) Mayor Alex Knopp collaborated with the ACS, the YMCA and local businesses to get the awareness message out––and undertook a special project with the local chapter of the NAACP for outreach to African American men through barbershops and the senior center––all part of his “Mayor’s Crusade Against Cancer;”

• Stamford (CT) Mayor Dannel P. Malloy worked with a local hospital to promote the annual prostate cancer screening initiative that is followed up by a physician’s exam – a component of his “Mayor’s Cancer Awareness Campaign” of eight years; and

• Wilmington (DE) Mayor James M. Baker worked with the ACS and local hospitals to provide prostate cancer testing for medically underserved men, with no charge for those without health insurance.

For a listing of the 76 mayors who reported on issuing proclamations for 2005 National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, go to The United States Conference of Mayors website: usmayors.org/chhs. For more information about The United States Conference of Mayors Cancer Awareness Program, contact Crystal D. Swann, Assistant Executive Director by e-mail: cswann@usmayors.org or by phone: 202-293-7330.