G-2309-19831

Poverty Action, based in Washington state, is a statewide anti-poverty advocacy organization that advances policy for low-income communities across through in-person community organizing and online advocacy. 

Poverty Action and their statewide network have been actively engaged in oral health policy work and led efforts in getting the state’s Medicaid adult dental benefit reinstated. In 2020 when Washington was planning to cut Medicaid dental benefits again, Poverty Action quickly organized to protect the benefit and saved it from being removed from the state budget. In addition to this, Poverty Action has led the statewide work to advance dental therapy as a strategy to support the severe shortage of dental providers across the state. 

As a result of the growing momentum, in 2021 the state legislature convened a Dental Therapy Task Force and in December the task force produced a report that included a thorough review of dental therapy practices on both tribal and non-tribal lands as well as implementation recommendations. With this spotlight on dental needs, there is a window of opportunity in the current legislative session to activate the state Poverty Action Network in advocating for dental therapy policy.  

Poverty Action’s 2022 strategy kicked off in January 2022 with an MLK Virtual Day of Action that was held along with an issue briefing, speaking opportunities for impacted community members to share their stories, and legislative meetings, with over 100 attendees.

In 2023, The Washington Dental Access Campaign (WDAC) saw tremendous success as HB 1678 was passed to allow statewide dental therapy licensure in community health clinics.

Poverty Action seeks to build on this success by ensuring strong implementation of HB 1678 by continuing advocacy through the Washington State Department of Health rule-making process. At the request of community health clinics implementing dental therapy (DT), the coalition will compile practice agreement templates and other resources from states with similar DT laws. Poverty Action will utilize themes and stories from five listening sessions in Seattle, Ellensburg, Skagit Valley, Tacoma, and Spokane, to inform advocacy work in the 2024 Legislative Session. Additionally, Poverty Action seeks to grow their coalition by recruiting new partner organizations to join and play an active role in increasing oral health access.

The budget for this proposal is $125,000, which represents 13% of the overall budget. Funding will support salaries, staff travel for organizing activities, funding for office space and utilities, community meeting expenses, marketing, and indirect costs.