The Delta Dental Community Care Foundation will make $5 million in funding available to organizations across its 15-state service area that are at the forefront of helping the communities most impacted by COVID-19. Funds will support a variety of response activities for at-risk populations.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented disruption on daily life across the globe, and while we don’t yet fully understand the extent of the public health or economic implications of this outbreak, we do know that it will be particularly challenging for those who are already vulnerable,” said Kenzie Ferguson, vice president of foundation and corporate social responsibility for Delta Dental of California.
“The Foundation’s mission is to build caring resilient communities, and this funding will help mitigate the impact of this crisis as well as support efforts when the recovery begins,” said Ferguson.
Of the $5 million total, $3.5 million will support increasing access to care across the Foundation’s 15-state area. Most of the funds will be provided to federally qualified health centers, which are government-funded clinics that provide primary care services in underserved areas and must offer a sliding fee scale based on the patient’s ability to pay, and other community health centers serving on the front lines of the crisis.
While access to care funding typically focuses on oral health and dental care, the Foundation says it is unrestricting these grant funds to provide flexibility and allow organizations to allocate funds as necessary to care for their communities in this time of great uncertainty.
The Foundation will make $1 million of the funding available to organizations responding to the emergency and to current partners experiencing significant increases in expenses and/or budget shortfalls as a result of the pandemic.
As an organization based in California, the Foundation also will provide $500,000 in disaster response to state organizations providing assistance to seniors, those living with food insecurity, those experiencing homelessness, and homebound individuals. Plus, Delta Dental is matching all donations up to a total of $100,000 to the Red Cross made online.
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