1602-11935

California: Support to Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) to act as a lead convener in the Los Angeles (specifically the South LA) community as part of the Grassroots Engagement Strategy. With a focus on eliminating structural barriers to social and economic opportunities for low-income communities and communities of color, SCOPE increases the civic participation of low-income communities to become active in the policymaking environment, develops strategic alliances among a diverse set of stakeholder groups, and provides capacity building for social justice partners to build movement around key issues. Highlighted accomplishments for SCOPE this past year focus on assessing the current attitudes and perceptions around oral health care and learning more about the landscape in South Los Angeles (South LA). Specific objectives that were met during the first year of funding were the development and implementation of a strategy to engage community-based organizations and health service providers to learn about their perceptions and experiences with oral health care access and quality in South LA, this included listening sessions, door-to-door canvasing, a South LA oral health power analysis. SCOPE engaged South LA residents to understand their experiences and knowledge around oral health care, and any barriers to access they presently face. At the culmination of the first year SCOPE shared the findings of their OH landscape assessment with South LA community members, oral health advocates, elected representative offices (including several state senators and the LA oral health director), and other key health equity and oral health stakeholders. SCOPE built a local network of community residents who are interest in working together this upcoming year to develop a multi-year strategy to transform the oral health systems into ones that prioritizes and benefits low-income communities through ensuring access to affordable, high quality care. Oral Health 2020 investment of $125,000 will be used to 1) Solidify the South LA Oral Health Network 2) Develop a concrete oral health vision, and multi-year strategies and goals for South LA (SCOPE believes that those who are most directly affected by structural inequities should themselves be actively involved in defining and implementing effective strategies for achieving systemic change) and 3) Build the grassroots power around oral health in South LA and develop oral health spokespeople and champions. This investment aligns with the Oral Health 2020 focus of improving the public perception of the value of oral health.