1704-13246

Continued Oral Health 2020 investment in Oral Health Colorado (OHCO), the fiscal agent for Smart Mouths, Smart Kids (SMSK), to spread a model for developing sustainable school-based oral health programs to promote greater health equity in Colorado and beyond. SMSK will continue to make marked progress towards their goals of incorporating feedback and upgrades to further refine the Toolkit, including the data collection tool and the feasibility calculator, so that they are fully functional and applicable beyond Colorado; implement a communications and marketing plan to encourage further adoption of the Toolkit for in-school oral health programs within Colorado; plan and develop adaptations to the Toolkit so that it can be spread across the OH2020 network; and strengthen partnerships with key national stakeholders, including the School-Based Health Alliance, to ensure the tool is widely available and used to integrate oral health into the primary education system. For the 2017 funding renewal, the SMSK Team will continue to work with Colorado in-school oral health programs, striving to reach short-term outcomes of at least 12 in-school oral health programs using the SMSK Toolkit, and achieving at least a 50 percent increase in the number of schools that are using the SMSK Toolkit to help achieve sustainability. The project will also evolve in the coming year as it expands focus at the national-level, and expect that at least five programs in other states will express an interest in initiating SMSK in the schools, and contact the SMSK Team for information and as technical assistance/resource partner. Providing consistent, effective tools to the OH2020 network is key to the goal of creating system-wide change. This tool will be critical to leverage in the development of the School-Based Health Alliance learning collaborative and connecting nodes of innovation in school-based oral health services across the country. $152,700 is requested for staff time related to the work's continued implementation, which includes website updates, feasibility calculator refinement, marketing plan implementation, strategic promotion of SMSK toolkit at national conferences, expansion into 1-2 pilot states beyond Colorado, and expansion and technical assistance within Colorado communities. This proposal aligns with the OH2020 Goal of incorporating oral health into the primary education system and the target that by 2020, the 10 largest school districts have incorporated oral health into their systems.