G-2411-22237

Community Catalyst is a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice. The organization partners with and supports state and community-based groups, specifically groups led by and serving BIPOC and other systemically excluded communities.

For the past eight years, Community Catalyst and CareQuest Institute have partnered to advance oral health advocacy strategy, shared policy priorities, and the strengthening of a community of advocates engaging in these issue areas. As a result, more diverse organizations are engaged in oral health advocacy and state and federal oral health policies are more reflective of the needs of historically marginalized communities.

In addition, when community-based organizations approach CareQuest Institute for grant funding to help with advocacy efforts but aren’t quite ready for systems change work, the Philanthropy Team will connect the organization with Community Catalyst for 1:1 technical assistance. The technical assistance Community Catalyst readies the organization for systems change work aligned with CareQuest Institute’s philanthropic strategy.

In 2024, Community Catalyst built upon their technical assistance and capacity-building work through the creation of an oral health advocacy academy, targeted technical assistance, national capacity-building, and federal policy advocacy. During the first half of the grant, Community Catalyst completed 13 national presentations and/or publications and had ten more scheduled for the second half of the 2024 grant. They also developed their first technical assistance summary and analysis, reporting 60 instances of technical assistance, of which more than half resulted in immediate impact, mostly in the campaign design phase.

In 2025, Community Catalyst requests funds to continue to enhance their strategies for community engagement. Key initiatives will include the creation of a new Community Advisory Board (CAB), which will provide direct feedback and inform decisions on resource development, storytelling, and advocacy strategy. Additionally, Community Catalyst will lead a Power Building training series that will engage partner organizations in learning and action, equipping them with tools through Power Building 101 and Power Mapping trainings to strengthen their advocacy efforts throughout the year. They will also convene Partner Calls regularly throughout the year to create feedback loops between their work and the work of their partners as well as create spaces for partners to connect. Central to their work will be the continuation of technical assistance state and community-based organizations that work directly with underserved communities.

This approach aligns with Community Catalyst’s focus on advancing policies that expand benefits and address core access issues meaningfully. Together, these efforts ensure their work is intersectional, creating synergy across sectors and advancing health policy for long-term impact.

Grant funds will primarily be used to support staffing; policy, project, power building, advocacy, and communications focused positions. Additional expenses include website hosting, IT infrastructure, occupancy, translation services, community advisory board stipends, and indirect funds. This request reflects 2% of the organization’s overall budget.