1702-12997

Virginia: Support to United Way of Roanoke Valley (UWRV) to act as a lead convener in the Roanoke community as part of the Grassroots Engagement Strategy. Healthy Roanoke Valley is an initiative of UWRV formed as a community-driven effort focused on increasing access to care, coordination of care, and overall community wellness. During Year 2 of the initiative, UWRV built on the findings from the landscape assessment to launch its community engagement efforts. Among other things, UWRV held a Bridges Out of Poverty training focusing on building capacity for partner organizations and creating momentum among non-traditional partners for this work; hosted a series of conversations around health equity and race; invested in building authentic relationships with community members; and developed its Oral Health Priorities Plan, which will guide the work of UWRV throughout 2020 and beyond. Oral Health 2020 investment of $100,002 will be used to work on making oral healthcare more accessible; improving oral health knowledge, perceptions, and behaviors; continuing to develop infrastructure for grassroots engagement around oral health and overall health; and continuing to build a shared understanding and awareness of the role of racial and social equity in oral health and overall health. 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.