G-2011-16459

This investment is to support Native American Connections in their approach to center the voices of indigenous communities in Arizona policy approaches to create a comprehensive adult dental benefit in Medicaid, address social risk factors such as inequitable, housing and homelessness, and the development of a Health Education Center for Native Americans. Native American Connections has played a critical role in Arizona oral health policy work in supporting the passage of dental therapy in 2018, working to remove caps for care through Indian Health Services, and in 2020 supporting the expansion of adult dental benefits for pregnant women, which failed as a result of COVID. With this investment, they will partner with the Arizona Oral Health Coalition and other statewide partners to drive efforts create a comprehensive adult dental benefit in 2021 through legislative advocacy and Native organizing. They additionally are seeking policy changes in support of addressing critical social risk factors for Arizona Native Americans such as pushing for a housing tax credit to support affordable housing and the development of a Native Health Education Center to strengthen the pipeline of indigenous communities into health care careers. To accomplish this, they plan to introduce legislation for adult benefits in the 2021 legislative session, host stakeholder meetings and one-on-one meetings with indigenous advocates and legislators. Additionally, they want to leverage the momentum built from the elections to apply a youth engagement strategy that builds political power in youth experiencing homelessness. The budget for this is $123,050 of which about half goes to payroll. The remaining half is for supplies related to the activities and for re-launch of the Strong Teeth, Strong Kids campaign.