1702-12963

Arizona: Support to the Children’s Action Alliance (CAA) to act as a lead convener in Arizona as part of the Grassroots Engagement Strategy. CAA is an independent voice for Arizona children and families at the in the community, working to promote children's health, education, and security through information and action. In the third year of the OH2020 Grassroots Engagement Strategy, CAA will work to defend the gains in health and dental coverage for children afforded by the ACA, CHIP, and Medicaid. The organization will run a proactive communications and engagement campaign to increase public support for Medicaid, making the case that Medicaid supports Arizona’s economy, healthcare system, and families. CAA will also educate constituents about the threats to their coverage, and engage them in a campaign to preserve and protect it. There are an estimated 30,000 low-income children eligible for KidsCare (CHIP) in Arizona and CAA is the state leader in KidsCare advocacy and outreach, currently at risk if the United States Congress does not reauthorize the CHIP funding to states. CAA will also work to establish and advance a state-level, consumer policy agenda that will address systemic oral health change and health equity. This year, CAA will also partner with the Arizona Public Health Association (AzPHA) to engage in state-level policy discussions and provide a consumer voice and perspective to discussions on root causes of poor oral health outcomes for children and potential policy solutions. CAA and AzPHA will work with state elected officials and their staff to advocate for consumer driven policies before and during the 2018 Legislative Session. $100,800 will be used to support CAA’s staff/personnel time to oversee advocacy campaign development, travel and meeting expenses, support in-person and remote convenings, contracted services to Arizona Public Health Association, and a sub-grant to an anchor community-based partner organizations (Empowerment Systems). This proposal aligns with the Oral Health 2020 Goal 6 of improving the public perception of the value of oral health to overall health and the target that oral health is increasingly included in health dialogue and public policy.