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    Mini-Grants Fill Oral Health Gaps for 30 Community Organizations

    11/3/23

    Okemos, Mich. — If you had $5,000 to improve oral health in your community, how would you spend it?

    For the nonprofits that received a Delta Dental Foundation Community Mini-Grant, the answers ranged from a prenatal oral health integration program to supplies for free dental clinics to a youth mentoring program that introduces children to dental careers.

    All told, 30 community organizations in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana were awarded more than $127,000.

    “Whether they're funding a new piece of clinic equipment or free dentures to older adults, these grants are filling often unseen gaps in our health care system," said Holli Seabury, EdD, executive director of the DDF. 

    The goal of the Community Mini-Grants Program is to increase dental access to historically and systemically disadvantaged communities, provide educational programming on the importance of oral health and how it relates to overall health, and reduce oral health disparities related to oral and overall health. Each grant was limited to a maximum of $5,000.

    Recipients were selected based on the number of people served (and the impact of the program on said population), the program’s originality, the program’s level of community involvement and the applicant’s ability to measure success. This year's grantees include:

    Michigan

    Ohio

    Indiana

    The next round of Mini-Grants will open on May 1, 2024. For more information, visit our Mini-Grants page.