1702-12996

Virginia: Support to the Mountain Empire Business Incubator to partner with the LENOWISCO Planning District Commission in its role as a lead convener in southwestern Virginia communities as part of the Grassroots Engagement Strategy. LENOWISCO (Lee, Scott, and Wise counties and the City of Norton) was established in 1965 to respond to economic development needs in the central Appalachian, and maintains a guiding philosophy that economic success starts with a trained, healthy workforce. During Year 2 of the initiative, LENOWISCO completed its regional landscape assessment, which addressed oral health beliefs, practices, attitudes, and perceived challenges; and presented analysis of this assessment to the LENOWISCO Oral Health Partnership, which then developed regional goals, strategies, and action items for oral health improvement in the region. In addition, LENOWISCO worked to establish new partnerships with additional stakeholders, such as the Healthier Communities Coalition of Southwest Virginia and the Health Wagon, and investigated communication strategies to better inform their colleagues so that they can learn and be engaged in statewide efforts for oral health improvement. Oral Health 2020 investment of $100,000 will be used to increase oral health education at variety of access points for children, parents, guardians, primary care providers, and educators; increase the number of children ages 1-18, who receive preventive oral health services; and increase access to oral health care services using both traditional and innovative models of oral health care delivery to include a sufficient number of dentist to eliminate the dental health professional shortage area designation. All actions described in the proposal work plan for the Year 3 work were organized around the systems change framework (policy, financing, care and community). 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.