About

Who We Are

The Pamela S. Bell Foundation, Inc. is a community support organization and a 501(c)(3) public charity. We were incorporated in Florida on June 17, 2026 and recognized as tax exempt by the Internal Revenue Service on July 8, 2026.

We exist to invest in communities that have long been underserved, and we do it through two programs chosen because they address the same shortage from two directions.

First Light

First Light helps people in underserved communities get screened for breast cancer and removes the practical barriers that keep them from care. It is the beginning of a fuller program built around navigation and support through the whole of a cancer journey.

Explore First Light

Meridian Youth Program

Our youth development program creates structured, supervised, genuinely youth-owned social spaces where young people are seen, supported, and given room to grow into themselves.

Explore Meridian Youth Program

We are piloting First Light in Jacksonville, Florida and Meridian in the Chicagoland area, and we intend to bring both programs to additional communities as need and capacity allow.

Our mission

The Pamela S. Bell Foundation exists to close the gap between diagnosis and dignity, and between adolescence and opportunity. We provide direct, compassionate support to individuals and families navigating a cancer journey, beginning with access to breast cancer screening in communities where it is hardest to come by. We invest in the futures of young people by creating spaces that feel like theirs, where they are seen, supported, and challenged to rise. Rooted in the legacy of Pamela S. Bell and guided by the belief that no one should face illness or adolescence alone, the Foundation delivers programs that meet people where they are and walk beside them toward what is possible.

Our vision

A world where a ZIP code does not determine whether someone reaches cancer care in time, and where every young person has a place to belong, grow, and become. We envision thriving communities in which families affected by cancer receive the full spectrum of support they deserve, in which Black women and other historically underserved populations are no longer diagnosed late and left without guidance, and in which the next generation has the resources, mentorship, and safe spaces they need to chart their own course. We are building that world one community at a time, beginning in Jacksonville and Chicago and growing toward a national footprint.

What We Stand On

Five values shape every program, every partnership, and every decision we make.

Dignity: Everyone we serve is met with respect and full humanity. A woman deciding whether she can afford to take a morning off for a mammogram and a teenager deciding where to spend a Friday night are both making choices shaped by what the world has made available to them. We design our programs around that reality rather than around institutional convenience.
Equity: We go where the need is greatest and where investment has been thinnest. Our programs prioritize communities that have been underserved by healthcare systems, schools, and public institutions, with particular attention to the disparities carried by Black families in both health outcomes and access to opportunity.
Legacy: We are stewards of something larger than ourselves. Every decision we make is measured against the woman this Foundation is named for and against the communities whose futures depend on us getting this right.
Ownership: The people we serve should have a voice in how they are served. Young people shape what Meridian becomes. Families and community partners shape how our cancer support is delivered. Community voice is not a courtesy here. It is structural.
Wholeness: People do not arrive in pieces. A cancer diagnosis reaches into a household's finances, its schedule, and its spirit. Adolescence is never only a school matter. Our programs are built to address the whole person and the people around them, because partial support produces partial outcomes.