1802-13888

The purpose of this grant is to continue to build the capacity of healthcare consumers in California to meaningfully engage in policy and systems change; to improve the public perception of the value of oral health to overall health; to enhance collaborative, cross-blade infrastructure processes, shared power, and decision-making; and to elevate health equity and social justice approaches within the Oral Health 2020 Network that are fully informed by, and reflective of, community voices. The work in this proposal builds on a number of successes last year including developing a statewide oral health policy agenda and disseminating it to policy makers, partners, and communities, hosting a 2017 Legislative briefing with a specific focus on barriers and opportunities related to access to oral health care, advancing budget and policy support for re-establishing the adult dental benefit, coordinated efforts across Core Partners while also coordinating the establishment of the California Oral Health Network, leading a number of campaigns focused on a protecting National healthcare policies like Medicaid, and disseminating mini-grants to key grassroots partners. More specifically, the work of this year will focus on four goals that include 1) advancing policy priorities established by community partners and the COHN, protecting existing healthcare programs, expanding communication outreach in partnership with the other grassroot lead organizations and strengthening the foundation of the COHN. This aligns with the OH2020 goal of shifting the public perception of oral health with a target of increasing oral health in overall health dialogue and in public policy. The budget for this proposal is $100,800 and is primarily to support staff time, travel and resources necessary to deepen community connections. The budget also includes $18k for subcontracts that go out to community partners.