Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation

Our responsive grant-making opportunity included a call for applications to support oral health prevention and access to care efforts. The prevention grants were available statewide, while the access to care grants were focused on the san luis valley and part of the metro denver region. We also provided grant payments to existing grantees in the areas of access to care, prevention and the connection of oral health to overall health.

The Colorado medical-dental integration project integrates preventive oral health services into primary care medical settings. Hygienists placed in medical clinics provide oral health care and make referrals to local dentists when further treatment is necessary. The goal is to reach families who have limited access to Dental care due to location, insurance status and transportation issues. To date, we have invested 6.3 million and funded 26 medical clinics reaching 27 communities in up to 39 locations throughout Colorado.

Invited grants were awarded to organizations working within policy and advocacy or systems change efforts, or collaborative fund opportunities. We also provide program related investments (pris) to fund oral health-related capital needs of community-based Dental providers, services, and clinics. In 2022 we provided 1,465,000 in pri loans, to be serviced by a third- party nonprofit, to three borrowers, all of whom are non-profit Dental health clinics that utilized loans for capital costs related to building and expanding Dental clinics that serve historically marginalized populations. Each of the loan borrowers demonstrated that the proceeds of the loans will expand physical capacity and will result in more patients receiving oral healthcare. These loans are included as program related investments on the balance sheet.

For more than 20 years, the Foundation has partnered with community-based organizations to fund programming that advances oral health equity. As a health equity funder, we increase education and oral health awareness, inspire health care collaborations and address other related expenses incurred to administer grants through systems-level and community-based efforts. Two examples include an initiative that aims to support community health centers to provide high quality oral health care and increasing awareness of community water fluoridation as a public health intervention.