G-2407-21941

The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy (Schuyler Center) is a statewide, nonprofit, policy analysis and advocacy organization working to shape policies to improve health, welfare, and human services for all New Yorkers, especially children and families experiencing poverty.

The organization received its first CareQuest Institute grant last year, which resulted in the launch of the Future Oral Health Workforce Project in January 2024. This project developed recommendations to expand access to oral health services through workforce design using input from consumers, stakeholders, and the constituencies representing the highest need populations. Legislation to create the profession of dental therapy was introduced in New York and legislative bill sponsors in both houses understand the importance of oral health, its intersections with other professions, the complex challenges associated with the proposed legislation, and the need to ensure directly impacted consumers are meaningfully engaged in efforts around building and passing this proposal.

To ensure that the voices of historically marginalized communities, oral health champions from both medical and dental backgrounds, and advocates were included in the growing discussions on oral health workforce. The Schuyler Center convened three workgroups (general interest, impacted consumers, and consumer advocacy organizations) to collect insights on both the existing gaps and most responsive opportunities within oral health to these stakeholders. The initial year of work was aimed at working collaboratively with the various workgroups to define the extent of the workforce shortage and involving a broad range of stakeholders in developing recommendations to address the shortages. Since launching the project, SCAA has grown a mailing list of over 350 members, hosted over 450 participants on nine webinars, published a data report, and convened four productive workgroups. The project is on track to produce recommendations by the end of 2024.

In addition to these workgroups, the Schuyler Center contracted with the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the School of Public Health, University at Albany, SUNY, to conduct policy-relevant research on the impact of the oral health workforce on oral health outcomes. CHWS is the national Oral Health Workforce Research Center (OHWRC) and its research informs workforce strategies across the nation to increase access to oral health services for historically marginalized and underserved populations. In the past year, publications include the Oral Health Needs Assessment for NY State 2024 as well as a State of New York’s Children’s Oral Health dashboard publicly available on the Schuyler Center’s website.

For 2025, the Schuyler Center proposes activities that move from recommendations to action by building on the data, materials, and relationships described above. Specifically, the organization will create a strategic plan for implementation of the recommendations in the report that will be released at the end of the current grant period. The plan will identify and map the legislative, regulatory, and other changes required to implement the recommendations, identify financing needs for workforce expansion advocacy, and host educational opportunities to educate policymakers and stakeholders on the existing need and solutions available to respond to the state's oral health gaps.

This proposal is being recommended for funding in the amount of $175,000, which will be used to support staff salaries for five project roles, including the senior policy analyst, communications associate, and consumer advisory coordinator roles. Another significant portion of grant funds will be used to contracts with the CHWS, who will produce at least one technical data report on consumer satisfaction, sentiment, and knowledge with the NY oral health system, Malkin and Ross, who will support legislator education, and Erika Marx, who will provide facilitation and meeting design for the state-level events. Finally, the remaining grant funds will be used for services such as translation/interpretation, technical assistance with participants with lived experience, and ongoing advisory group meetings for the three key workgroups informing the project. This grant represents 7% of the organization’s overall operating budget.