G-2312-20103

Alabama Arise is a statewide, non-partisan coalition of 150 congregations, nonprofits and civic organizations seeking to improve quality of life for Alabamians. Their theory of change is that people from every community must be engaged in the state and federal policy-making process to affect real and lasting change. Alabama Arise also operates the Cover Alabama Coalition, a group of partners that builds broad-based support for Medicaid expansion through convening and community organizing.

Alabama Arise has been funded by CareQuest Institute since 2021. Through their 2023 grant, they were able to relaunch the Alabama Coordinated Health Network (ACHN), a statewide community advisory board of Medicaid beneficiaries who are able to speak directly to how administrative and coverage issues of Medicaid affect consumers. Additionally in 2023, county fact sheets were prepared for all 67 Alabama counties that highlight how Medicaid expansion would increase the number of people covered, the amount of money saved, and the number of jobs created. These fact sheets are a tool to help lawmakers understand how Medicaid expansion would benefit their districts. As part of their upcoming proposal, Alabama Arise will train grassroots advocates in how to use these factsheets to meet with their local lawmakers.

This proposal falls under the subprogram Strengthen Community Voice and State Advocacy. It leverages key timing as Alabama is expected to submit a 1115 waiver to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in early 2024 to expand Medicaid coverage. In recent years, momentum has built for bipartisan support of expanding Medicaid coverage and closing the coverage gap. Currently in Alabama, adult dental coverage via Medicaid is only provided for pregnant and postpartum women; offering many opportunities to increase access in multiple high need populations. In communication with the Policy and Advocacy team, additional technical assistance will be provided throughout the grant term to increase bench-depth in advocating specifically for oral health related benefits and policies to ensure a more refined oral health approach moving forward.

Key activities of this grant include:
Oral health related advocacy training to Medicaid consumers involved in the ACHN community advisory board and Cover Alabama coalition.
Convene rural Medicaid consumers to address and reduce children’s tooth decay in the Black Belt
Engage with Alabama Department of Public Health that is working to provide more mobile healthcare to rural communities to increase mobile dentistry and teledentistry.

The budget for this proposal is $150,000, which represents 7% of the organizational budget. Included in the budget are funds for salaries to assist with community organizing, advocacy and communications as well as indirect costs.