G-2309-19891

Asian Resources, Inc. (ARI), is a California-based direct services and policy advocacy organization that leads a statewide collaborative of community-based organizations and community clinicals that serve a broad range of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) communities. ARI provides education, navigation services, and policy advocacy that supports immigrants, limited-English proficient, LGBTQ, disability, and AANHPI communities.

ARI has been a CareQuest Institute grantee since 2019 and has been engaged in advocacy and demographic data disaggregation work during this time. With the recent implementation of DHCS’s Older Adults Expansion and Compact of Free Associated States (COFA) Benefit Restoration, more than 250,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries are transitioning from restricted benefits to full scope coverage. In addition to advocating for this policy, throughout the implementation, ARI has been conducting critical outreach to ensure AANHPI communities are not caught in a coverage gap in which they lose access to care. ARI also supported advocacy efforts that resulted in the retention of funding in the state budget to cover approximately 750,000 undocumented people ages 26-49 and is working toward an official expansion. To do this, ARI convents and activates the AANHPI Oral Health Equity Alliance (OHA), which advocates for cultural and linguistic access to healthcare, including but not limited to, education and outreach material translation and educational programs for AANHPI communities interested in oral healthcare careers. In 2023, ARI convened a monthly meeting with OHA partners to discuss oral health access and advocated for C&L appropriate health and oral services for AANHPI communities at events, trainings, and meetings with government officials.

This proposal has three areas of focus:

Monitoring the Medi-Cal expansion program and renewal programs to ensure Medi-Cal enrollees receive and retain full-scope Medi-Cal access to dental services.

Developing a state-wide AANHPI Statewide Health Equity Policy agenda to improve the collection and reporting of disaggregated race and ethnicity data by state and local agencies to increase access to C&L competent language assistance services, including the translation of educational materials and the provision of interpreter services.

Implementing strategies to diversify the oral health workforce through participating in a Dental Therapy campaign in California and monitoring DHCS’s Medi-Cal reimbursement process for Community Health Workers and its Navigator Program.

Due to continued gaps in services and barriers to accessing care in AANHPI communities, ARI requests funding to further advance policy changes, to increase capacity for research, and to implement strategies for system change to advance oral health equity.

The budget for this proposal is $150,000, which represents 3.5% of ARI’s overall budget. Funding will support salaries, travel, technology, office supplies, accounting services, and subgrants.