MassCONECT in Worcester

MassCONECT Work Group

(Massachusetts Community Networks to Eliminate Cancer Disparities through Education, Research, and Training)

Coordinates all initiatives between the academic community and the general Greater Worcester community regarding cancer prevention, community outreach, community based participatory research, and community discussion regarding the social factors that impact community health. This group meets the first Monday of each month from 10:00am to 12:00pm at 44 Front St., Suite 280, in downtown Worcester.

MassCONECT Initiative: Cancer PLANET Project: This project facilitates the use of the National Cancer Control PLANET database, which compiles the research results of the most significant cancer research projects, updated cancer data and best practice intervention initiatives. It is headed by a team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

MassCONECT Initiative: 4KIDS Smoke Free Homes Project: The specific aim of the project is to prevent involuntary secondhand smoke exposure in homes as a preventable public health threat that burdens disproportionately young children in communities of low socioeconomic position. It proposes a community based participatory research initiative to evaluate the effectiveness of motivational interventions compared with usual best practices by having parents adopt voluntarily smoke free home policies to protect children from secondhand smoke exposure.

MassCONECT Initiative: Unnatural Causes Group: This group is committed to present the seven part "Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?" documentary that aired last spring on PBS to community members in small groups and to facilitate conversations by the groups that are reflective of the documentary’s themes. The documentary presentations and conversations have yet to be scheduled. Click here to view a 4minute and 42 second, WMV format trailer for the series. 

The primary community organizations represented in this group and partnered with Common Pathways include:

  • American Cancer Society
  • Worcester Department of Public Health
  • Harvard School of Public Health
  • Massachusetts Department of Public Health
  • Harvard Medical School
  • Plumley Village Health Center
  • Dana Farber Cancer Institute
  • YMCA
  • UMass Medical School
  • Boston Medical Center
  • Spectrum
  • HealthNet
  • UMass Memorial Health Care
  • Women Together
  • Great Brook Valley Health Center
  • Stone Soup
  • Family Health Center