G-2103-16901

Asian Resources, Inc.(ARI) is a California-based direct services and policy advocacy organization and leads a statewide collaborative of community-based organizations and community clinics. In partnership with AANHPI communities, they conduct outreach, education, enrollment, and navigation services, as well as policy advocacy that supports immigrants, limited-English proficient (LEP) and other low-income communities of color. ARI is seeking $150,000 to support the work of ARI, in collaboration with the Oral Health Alliance, a group of eight community-based AANHPI organizations, to advance oral health equity through four key policy and systems change areas. First, ARI will advocate for improved, standardized collection of disaggregated demographic data in California local and state public health departments. The achievement of disaggregated data on the AANHPI community will allow the state to have insight into the health disparities impacting the AANPHI community, and how they vary across different AANHPI populations. As part of this work, ARI would assess the data collection and reporting protocol for California’s Department of HealthCare Services (DHCS), Department of Social Security(DSS),Department of Public Health(DPH), and other relevant government agencies. This analysis will then be used to advocate for statutory, regulatory or policy changes that enable the collection and reporting of disaggregated data by race, ethnicity and primary language. The second advocacy platform identified is to increase the cultural and linguistic access to state health coverage and care, including oral health care. COVID-19 reinforced that health and healthcare-related materials are often only translated into limited languages, if at all. ARI will monitor and track healthcare outreach and education materials released by DPH and DHCS, provide feedback on these materials and advocate to implement a community review component into the development of these materials. ARI will leverage this experience as a model for other states and partners who want to engage in language access advocacy. Next, ARI and the OHA will support the expansion of Medi-Cal to additional populations, including adults over 65 regardless of immigration status, and support implementation of Medi-Cal for Compact of Free Association (COFA) citizens, a newly renewed benefit. ARI and OHA partners will participate in the existing Health4All campaign planning and strategy sessions, calling and/or meeting with policymakers, providing support letters, and providing testimony. This statewide campaign, beginning in 2013, seeks to expand Medicaid eligibility for all people in California regardless of immigration status. ARI will support the implementation of the reinstated Medicaid benefit for COFA citizens by convening a Pacific Islander/COFA workgroup to create an outreach strategy, focused on awareness of the new benefit, targeted toward COFA Medi-Cal eligible California residents, and translate COFA Medi-Cal materials to community members. ARI’s last area of focus is to explore strategies to foster a more diverse oral health workforce. They will explore and engage in dental therapy campaign efforts in partnership with other California CareQuest Institute grantees as a pipeline for a community-based workforce. CareQuest Institute has supported ARI since 2017 in the amount of$450,200.Funding has been allocated toward grassroots network building with the intention to bring grassroots voices forward to advocate for policy change. The budget includes staff time, a stipend for each of the eight community-based organizations in OHA, and funding for a data assessment consultant. No in-kind or match support is presented.