1409-11342

Arizona: This investment supports the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers (AACHC) to develop a statewide oral health coalition that focuses on building capacity within the state, engaging diverse stakeholders, and developing a statewide oral health plan with a focus on health equity. Specifically, AACHC will be the lead entity working with partners to establish coalition staffing and leadership, leverage existing data to examine oral health status and access in order to develop a statewide oral health surveillance system, and establish a policy sub-committee to support legislation and state-level policies that promote comprehensive access to oral health care. Although there is activity around oral health occurring across the state, Arizona remains without a statewide coalition or plan to weave together existing efforts. AACHC comprises the state�s largest network of primary care providers and is committed to promote and facilitate the delivery of affordable and accessible community-oriented, high-quality, culturally effective primary healthcare for everyone in the state through advocacy, education, and technical assistance. This group is well-positioned to lead a statewide effort that emphasizes health equity and connecting stakeholders who share this value proposition. $200,791will support personnel and consultant time associated with developing a statewide network, the oral health plan, and an evaluation strategy; travel and meeting expenses necessary to conduct outreach to diverse stakeholders; and communication efforts aimed towards developing aligned messages. This proposal is aligned with Oral Health 2020 Eradicate dental disease in children of eradicating dental disease in children and the target that 75% of children reach age 5 without a cavity by 2020.