Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation Awards $240,000 to 12 Nonprofits For Oral Health and Overall Health Projects

Posted on November 4, 2020 in Foundation

The Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation has awarded over $240,200 to 12 organizations to improve the oral and overall health of Iowans. The grants are part of the Foundation’s Ignite and Innovation grant programs that strengthen and transform the health and smiles of all Iowans. Both funds provide support to programs that align with the Foundation’s strategic areas of focus: education and advocacy, access and prevention, and policy and research. 

“The commitment shown by these nonprofits to Iowa’s overall health and wellness is inspiring, especially in the face of the pandemic where there are so many competing demands,” said Jeff Russell, president of the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation. “The work of these nonprofits with support from public private partnerships help all Iowans become healthier through research, training, infrastructure investments and strengthening communities. Delta Dental remains committed to supporting innovative programs like these.”

Ignite Grants award organizations up to $25,000 for projects that advance oral health or the integration of oral health with overall health. Organizations awarded Ignite grants by the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation include:

• Allen College (Waterloo, IA) received $24,200 to support ACE-SAP Free Clinic: Medical-Dental Collaboration. This project aims to make Medical-Dental Collaboration a permanent fixture at the clinic to better serve its patient population.
• Iowa CareGivers (West Des Moines, IA) received $25,000 to support Mouth Care Matters Virtually. This project’s goal is to provide statewide virtual access to resources and training for direct care workers to improve oral and overall health outcomes for older Iowans and individuals with disabilities.
• FAMILY, Inc. (Council Bluffs, IA) received $25,000 to support Children’s Oral Health Coalition and Mobile Screening Unit. The Mobile Wellness Unit will integrate both medical and dental services into one space allowing screenings such as dental, lead, vision, hearing and developmental screenings, psychosocial education visits and more to occur in one stop.
• Medicaid Medicare CHIP Services Dental Association (Sandwich, MA) received $25,000 to support Advancing Healthy Behaviors Among Iowa Dental Wellness Plan Members. This project supports improvements to oral health self-assessment tools for use by Dental Wellness Plan members and increase equity in obtaining dental services for these members.
• The University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics (Iowa City, IA) received $16,000 to support Wellness & Solutions for the Contemporary Dental Practice that Treats Pediatric & Adolescent Patients. Funding for this project will support improved dental care for our state’s youngest patients and those with special health care needs through continuing education opportunities for oral health professionals.

Innovation Grants award organizations up to $25,000 for projects that invest in innovative opportunities to improve wellness and vision through community health initiatives. Innovation grants awarded by the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation include:

• Central Iowa Shelter and Services (Des Moines, IA) received $25,000 to support Agri-Hood Collaborative - Capacity Building for Community Wellness. This project aims to add a new greenhouse and fish farm to significantly increase healthy food production to benefit the shelter’s clients and other community partners. Funds will help support the training needs associated with this effort.  
• Community Youth Concepts (Des Moines, IA) received $6,000 to support uVoice: Youth Philanthropy Board. This project supports youth in learning about grant making, philanthropy, leadership development, and health issues impacting their community. Students determine public health issues of concern to youth in central Iowa, conduct interviews, community needs assessments and produce a white paper to share their findings and recommendations for systemic policy changes.  
• Des Moines Area Religious Council (Des Moines, IA) received $20,000 to support NIFCAP Rural Pantry Data Expansion Project. This project will expand DMARC’s ability to collect and analyze demographic data regarding food insecurity in partnership with up to nine pantries in targeted rural areas of Iowa. By combining data from both urban and rural centers of the state, DMARC will be able to better tell the full story of hunger and poverty while advocating for systemic solutions that reflect the health and wellness needs of Iowa’s diverse communities.
• Iowa Department of Public Health (Des Moines, IA) received $12,000 to support the expansion of Harnessing the Power of Iowa’s Libraries to Dallas County. The project’s goals are to utilize local libraries as partners to help educate and address the health and social needs of the community in which they are located.
• Iowa Healthiest State Initiative (Des Moines, IA) received $25,000 to support statewide Make it OK campaign. This project aims to reduce the stigma of mental illness through creating caring conversations by coordination and training of community Make It OK Ambassadors.
• University of Iowa Foundation (Iowa City, IA) received $12,000 to support Iowa KidSight statewide Preventative Vision Screenings for Iowa’s Youngest Children.
• Vision to Learn (Dubuque) received $25,000 to support Helping Students Recover Lost Learning Time Through Vision Care. This project would provide free eye exams and glasses to Iowa school children 5-19 years of age at schools in low-income communities of the state.

Delta Dental of Iowa Ignite and Innovation Grant applications from Iowa agencies are reviewed twice a year and applications are due on April 1 and September 1.