G-1911-15688

This investment supports Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education – Los Angeles (SCOPE) to strengthen the capacity of marginalized communities in California to advance oral health policies through community organizing and advocacy for an expanded oral health workforce. This is in alignment with the DentaQuest Partnerships priorities to promote health equity in the state, engage grassroots partners in systems-change advocacy and pursue person-centered models of care through interprofessional practice. This opportunity builds on the alignment of partners across California over the past years to build community and political will in support of dental therapy as a means to create oral health equity. Specific work for 2020 within this proposal includes: increasing capacity of key communities to understand oral health as a social justice issue and the development of a refined local and statewide policy approach towards supporting a broader oral health workforce. Additionally, the work that SCOPE is doing is being collaboratively funded by the California Wellness Foundation to bolster the impact. The outcomes of this project are to advance the policy agenda relative to expanding the oral health workforce to include dental therapists. $100,000 supports time, travel, and supplies associated with deliverables.