California Dental Association Foundation Awards Grants to Five Nonprofit Organizations

Posted: March 14, 2012
California Dental Association Foundation Awards Grants to Five Nonprofit Organizations

Projects will provide oral health care services to thousands of underserved Californians
For Immediate Release
March 14, 2012
Sacramento, Calif. — The CDA Foundation has awarded grants to five nonprofit organizations to fund a wide variety of community oral health projects across California.

The Foundation received almost 60 letters of intent and selected and invited the top 17 qualified and competitive projects to submit a full proposal. The following deserving nonprofit organizations were ultimately selected by the Foundation’s Grant Selection Committee and each received a $10,000 grant:

• Fresh Start Surgical Gifts – Carlsbad. This grant will support the organization’s efforts by providing comprehensive restorative and orthodontic dental procedures as well as preventive dental education to 120 disadvantaged infants, children and teens who are faced with complex dental conditions because of craniofacial deformities and dentofacial abnormalities.

• Sacramento District Dental Foundation – Sacramento. This grant will help fund the organization’s Smiles for BIG Kids program, which works to provide screenings, education and restorative treatment for uninsured adults with urgent dental needs in the greater Sacramento area. This program specifically targets the elderly, parents of children served by the Smiles for Kids project, and individuals referred by partnering wraparound care organizations, such as job readiness programs and transitional care programs.

• UCSD Student-Run Free Dental Clinic – San Diego. The Foundation grant will support this project and its efforts to improve access to dental care for an estimated 1,500 underserved individuals. By providing funds to purchase necessary endodontic equipment, the program’s participating endodontists and general dentists will be able to perform root canal therapy on underserved individuals.

• St. Mary’s Interfaith Community Services – Stockton. This grant will support a project that provides preventive and restorative dental care to about 2,800 underserved individuals. The funds will be used to increase the current part-time dental assistant position to full-time, enabling the clinic to increase patient appointments by at least 5 percent and treat more individuals in need.

• St. John’s Well Child and Family Center – Los Angeles. The Foundation’s grant will support a project aimed at increasing access to preventive and early intervention dental care for low-income adults and children in Compton. The seed funding will be applied toward the purchase of digital radiograph equipment and will have long-term impact by increasing workflow efficiency through a decreased X-ray process time (an estimated 20 minutes less per patient). This project will save the clinic at least $18,000 per year by eliminating materials required for the current X-ray process.

Funded by Friends of the CDA Foundation, the CDA Foundation Grant Program provides millions of dollars in oral health services through strategically selected dental projects in California.

About the California Dental Association Foundation
The CDA Foundation was formed as the philanthropic affiliate of the California Dental Association in 2001 with the mission to improve the oral health of all Californians by supporting the dental profession in its efforts to meet community needs. The CDA Foundation works with experts in the dental profession, private business, academic institutions and government to produce programs that increase access to care; promote prevention, education and intervention; advance health policy research; and build a sustainable oral health workforce. www.cdafoundation.org  
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