The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk took place Saturday at Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin. The non-competitive fundraiser came as federal health data showed that D.C. had the nation’s highest female breast cancer mortality rate among states and territories.
The Tidal Basin event is part of the American Cancer Society’s nationwide Making Strides program. The walks take place in roughly 150 communities and raise about $60 million a year; more than $1 billion has been collected since the program began in 1993. The funds support research and free services for patients and families.
The local health figures put the walk’s setting in focus. CDC data released in October showed Washington, D.C., had an age-adjusted female breast cancer mortality rate of 24.1 per 100,000 women in 2024, compared with 18.7 nationally, according to Medical Daily. Rhode Island had the lowest rate, 14.4 per 100,000, making D.C.’s rate roughly 67 percent higher, the outlet reported.
Screening Access and Follow-Up in D.C.
DC Health reports that its WISH Cancer Screening Program offers free screenings and support to people with no or limited insurance who live in D.C., Maryland or Virginia. The agency also reported that the median interval between an abnormal mammogram and follow-up care fell from 76 days in 2023 to 52 days in 2024. These figures describe program eligibility and follow-up timing, rather than screening rates by ward, according to DC Health and the agency’s report on follow-up care.
A National Disparity by Race
Nationally, Black women face a 40 percent higher breast cancer mortality rate than white women despite a slightly lower overall incidence rate, per data cited by Karmactive. The gap is most pronounced among women under 40.
The American Cancer Society projects 321,910 new cases of invasive breast cancer among U.S. women in 2026 and estimates that 42,140 women will die from the disease this year.
Screening Guidelines Shifted in 2024
Early detection is another focus of the event. In April 2024, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that average-risk women begin biennial screening mammograms at age 40, rather than 50.
There has also been substantial long-term progress: U.S. breast cancer mortality fell 44 percent from 1989 through 2023. Fundraising walks are intended to sustain efforts in research and screening access.
Funding Patient Services Beyond the Walk
Making Strides fundraising supports research and lodging.
The D.C. edition joins a string of Making Strides walks Hoodline has tracked this fall, including a Central Park event scheduled for October 18, 2026, and expected to draw 50,000 people, gatherings in Detroit's Corktown and Sandy, Utah, and a relocation to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Locally, the Tidal Basin walk follows other D.C.-area fundraising efforts this fall, including the Congressional Women's Softball Game at Audi Field, which turned a ballpark into a stage for breast cancer survivors in September.
