G-2411-22188

NC Child is the state’s children’s advocacy organization serving all of North Carolina. One of the core strategies of NC Child’s work is the operation of a Parent Advisory Council (PAC), which has been maintained for five years and is comprised of Medicaid beneficiaries and parents of Medicaid beneficiaries. NC Child has worked with the PAC to strengthen the organization's ability to understand health policy and contribute to statewide health policy conversations around coverage and reform.

Through their previous grant, NC Child was able to conduct a statewide listening tour to engage community health providers, civic leaders, faith leaders, and families on data to help build reports on social determinants of health within key communities and regions. Building on these efforts, the project will involve conducting a 2025 Listening Tour with focus groups exclusively with parents of children on Medicaid. These focus groups will allow parents directly impacted by social factors and an inadequate dental health system to feel comfortable sharing their stories. Additionally, focus groups will be held with school personnel to dig deeper into school-based oral health care barriers and how dental problems manifest themselves in academics. Focus groups with elementary and middle school students will also be conducted to understand their experiences with school- and community-based dental care and the impacts stemming from lack of access.

Key informant interviews will be conducted with private dentists to discuss serving children on Medicaid. These interviews will focus on reimbursement rates and stigma around Medicaid patients. The goal is to have more nuanced conversations around serving children on Medicaid and identify policy supports that can increase the number of dentists that accept Medicaid. This will be accomplished by amplifying stories and solutions from these conversations through webinars, publications, and online promotion. This will include sharing findings from focus groups and interviews through a series of online reports, NC Child’s new data center, and at conference events.

The work of the grant will also involve community members in the development and implementation of strategies to improve access to dental care. By engaging with parents, school personnel, students, and dental professionals, NC Child aims to create a comprehensive understanding of the barriers to oral health care and develop actionable strategies to improve access and outcomes for underserved populations. Upon conclusion of the listening tours, findings from 2024 and 2025 will be shared at NC Child’s annual State of the Child Summit. By 2026, regional events will be organized to present research findings at larger community gatherings in North Carolina, in partnership with other organizations. The Listening Tour findings will also be shared with policymakers, including partners at the NC Department of Health and Human Services/NC Medicaid and NC DPI. These efforts will help initiate discussions on legislative policy changes around oral health and social determinants of health with the NC General Assembly during the 2026 short session.

The budget for this proposal is $175,000 which represents 7% of NC Child’s overall budget. Funding will support salaries, community engagement events, and indirect costs.