G-2307-19210

Florida Voices for Health (FVH) is a coalition of community organizations, businesses, and individuals working to reform health and oral health care and coverage in Florida. The organization works especially hard to make sure that the stories of hard-working, low- and moderate-income Floridians are represented in the health reform efforts.

Over 2021 and 2022, CareQuest Institute grant funds were used to develop a story and data collection effort that included roundtables, interviews, and quantitative data analysis to better understand the barriers that exist for Floridians. The organization has collected over 60 oral health stories from these efforts and 47 of them have featured Floridians from communities of color, rural communities, and the disabilities communities. FVH also facilitated convenings between legislators and community members and successfully drove more than 1,000 of their constituents to contact lawmakers in favor of expanding access to care. Finally, FVH has worked over the past grant year to strengthen its infrastructure for partnerships and bring new partner organizations into its work from health coalitions, state agencies, and other leaders throughout the state, including some CareQuest Institute grantees also in Florida, to make a stronger push for the inclusion of the Medicaid Adult Dental Benefit in 2024. Part of this involved bringing in-house the oral health work of the now-defunct Florida Institute for Health Innovation.

Engaging people directly impacted by disparities and social barriers will continue to be at the heart of FVH’s advocacy strategy. Building on its impactful work in the past several funding years, Florida Voices for Health will continue community engagement through story collection, roundtable discussions, leadership of several coalitions, organizing community events, and promoting online actions for oral health advocacy. This year, FVH will also build on the physical grassroots presence they had at the Capitol during the 2023 legislative session, bringing community and coalition members to advocate two days per week for the first five weeks of legislative session.

To further strengthen the coalition-base for Medicaid adult dental benefit, FVH will identify new partners and communities in rural Florida to serve as advocates as they continue to meet with and educate policymakers in FL about the dire need for expanded access to oral health in the state. Florida Voices for Health will lead and provide technical assistance to partners in regular convenings for the Health Care for Florida Coalition, Parent Advisory Committee, and Florida Oral Health Alliance, all of which involve community members, grass-middles and grass-tops stakeholders. 

The recommended amount for budget for this proposal is $175,000, which represents 43% of the organization’s overall budget. The request initially was submitted at $198,000, and Philanthropy staff worked with the FVH team to bring the budget down to $175,000, commensurate with the 2022 level of support. In follow-up, the FVH also strengthened the fiscal sustainability plan presented in the 2023 proposal. Budget line items are solely allocated for staff time across seven FVH staff.