Kim Sledge Allen of Sister Sledge Calls on the Music Industry to Demand Congress Fund the American Center for Cures

Ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms, Kim Sledge Allen invites Taylor Swift, Lionel Richie, Barbra Streisand and artists everywhere to take #TheCuresPledge, unite a divided country and demand immediate action to cure disease

CHICAGO, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Kim Sledge Allen of Sister Sledge, the group behind the 1979 anthem "We Are Family," today called on her brothers and sisters in music and the arts to join a national movement to cure disease. In a personal audio message, Sledge Allen asked artists and faith leaders, including Taylor Swift, Lionel Richie, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Barry Manilow, Celine Dion, Tyler Perry, The Weeknd, Pastor Jamal Bryant, Pastor John Hannah, and Jesse Duplantis, to take The Cures Pledge and urge every member of Congress and the White House to fund the American Center for Cures immediately.

"This is a time of a new movement, a movement for healing," said Sledge Allen. "I am asking my brothers and sisters in the music industry and the arts to come together, support this movement and speak to our politicians, our families, our churches and our communities. It's time for these diseases to be wiped out. We have the science, we have the minds, we have the heart, we have the hope, we have the faith, and we certainly have love for one another. We are family, and we're unity strong."

Sledge Allen also lends her voice to "Unity Strong," the American Center for Cures' song, featured on the campaign's website.

"The American Center for Cures is the opportunity for the music industry to lead the path forward to preventing and curing disease," said Lou Weisbach, co-founder of the American Center for Cures. "It's 'We Are the World' on steroids: a fully funded, business-like, accountable and urgent mission that brings together, for the first time in American history, every element needed to prevent and cure disease, including the great talents of our researchers and AI. But it can only happen if the American people stand up together and remind our leaders that members of Congress and the president work for us. The days leading up to Nov. 3 are a defining moment to heal America, physically and politically."

Founded in 1999 by Weisbach and Richard Boxer, M.D., the American Center for Cures is a bipartisan initiative calling on Congress to fund a national mission to prevent and cure cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, heart disease, ALS and other major diseases. With the midterm elections less than two weeks away, the organization is asking Americans to make curing disease the No. 1 bipartisan issue of this election.

The need is urgent. Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart disease and cancer cost the nation more than $1.1 trillion a year, according to the most recent estimates from the Alzheimer's Impact Movement, the American Diabetes Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute. The American Center for Cures' $750 billion plan, funded through U.S. Treasury bonds over six years, would cost less than the nation now spends on these four diseases in a single year.

Once funded by Congress, the American Center for Cures would launch 16 separate private-sector efforts. Fourteen would each be charged with preventing and/or curing a single disease, with a $36 billion budget. Two additional units would receive $108 billion each, one to fund all other diseases, including orphan diseases, and one to fund artificial intelligence efforts. The remaining $30 billion would be held as a reserve fund. Each effort would be led by proven business leaders working alongside leading scientists and physicians, with clear goals and accountability for results.

Sledge Allen and the American Center for Cures are asking artists, fans and families to take The Cures Pledge before Nov. 3: record a 10-second video saying who they're waiting on a cure for, ask three people by name to do the same and post it with #TheCuresPledge. Then send it to their U.S. representative, their U.S. senators and the candidates on their ballot. Every video joins the campaign's wall, where a famous name and a family member get the same space.

"Speak to your senators, speak to your congressmen, speak to your communities, speak to one another," Sledge Allen said. "We are a human family. It's time to be one in hope and in healing."

To hear Kim Sledge Allen's message, listen to "Unity Strong" and take the pledge, visit thecurespledge.org.

About the American Center for Cures
The American Center for Cures is a bipartisan initiative founded in 1999 by Lou Weisbach and Richard Boxer, M.D., to prevent and cure the major diseases of our time, including cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, heart disease, ALS, MS and mental illness. The American Center for Cures is a fiscally sponsored project of The Giving Back Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information, visit thecurespledge.org.

SOURCE Kim Sledge of Sister Sledge