G-2306-19166

The California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN) is a statewide organization that brings together and mobilizes communities of color to advocate for public policies that advance health equity and improve health outcomes in communities in California.

CPEHN has been an engaged and effective CareQuest Institute partner and grantee for several years and CareQuest Institute support to CPEHN has transformed over time. Early funding supported community listening sessions and a landscape assessment to understand barriers BIPOC communities face when accessing oral health care as well as to their oral health promotion. Those activities led to an intentional and successful advocacy for Medi-Cal's restoration of adult benefits in 2018 and defense of those benefits in 2020. CPEHN has taken on the role as backbone facilitator for the California Oral Health Progress and Equity Network (CA-OPEN) and provided training to community members and leaders on oral health advocacy and community engagement at the county level throughout California. Finally, moving from engagement to power building, CPEHN has leveraged its most recent CareQuest Institute grants to establish and sustain the Oral Health Equity Core Group (Core Group), a cohort of four, BIPOC-led, community-based organizations that will ultimately serve as a formal avenue for community voice in oral health policy development.

The proposed project from CPEHN has two broad goals: 1) advocacy for equity-centered oral health policy change at the state and federal levels and, 2) successful provision of training and technical assistance resources to a growing California Oral Health Equity Core (CORE) Group. CPEHN's advocacy efforts will focus primarily on establishing permanent, full-scope dental coverage for adults in Medi-Cal, expanding the oral health workforce to include community health workers and dental therapists, and collecting and reporting utilization and outcome data that is disaggregated. This will be supported through ongoing educational and awareness building meetings with existing and potential legislative champions and policymakers. Additional project outcomes include a narrative assessment based on community partner interviews to explore and assess the impact of the Core Group and oral network model on policy wins as well as areas for improvement and opportunity. Additionally, CPEHN aims to address California's dental workforce shortage and resulting barriers to access by exam

This proposal is being recommended for the funding in the requested amount of $200,000, which is consistent with past years and aligned with the organization’s proposed scope of work. CPEHN serves as an important convening partner in California for issues of oral health policy and advocacy training to community-based organizations throughout the state. The organization has identified additional resources to sustain its key oral health activities and CareQuest Institute funding will ensure that the organization’s expertise and resources can be effectively shared and updated for oral health advocates more broadly.