Meet Community Catalyst, Future Home to CHDP’s Oral Health Policy and Advocacy Materials

This blog was authored by Tera Bianchi, Director, Dental Access Program, Community Catalyst.

Oral health is essential to overall health, yet one in three Americans go without a dental visit each year. Millions of Americans live in pain and miss school or work. In extreme cases, people can develop life-threatening infections due to lack of dental care. 

Community Catalyst is proud to have served as a longtime national partner of the Children’s Dental Health Project (CDHP). As you know, for the past 22 years, CDHP has been a steadfast voice for children who need dental coverage. As a result of CDHP’s leadership and your partnership, 9 in 10 children now have dental coverage and many more children have gained access to care.

We are committed to carrying on the important work that CDHP has championed for more than two decades and look forward to partnering with you.

As Meg Booth shared with you earlier this month, CDHP is in the process of moving their oral health policy and advocacy materials to Community Catalyst as they prepare to end operations as an independent nonprofit by the end of year. 

As a valued partner of CDHP, I wanted to take a moment to introduce Community Catalyst. We are committed to carrying on the important work that CDHP has championed for more than two decades and look forward to partnering with you. 

Community Catalyst is a national, non-profit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1998 with the belief that affordable quality health care should be accessible to everyone. And when we say “health care,” we mean that to encompass oral health, which is foundational to overall health. Like CDHP, we value strong partnerships and believe they are an important key to success. We work in partnership with national state and local organizations, policymakers and philanthropic foundations to ensure consumer interests are represented wherever important decisions about health and the health system are made: in communities, statehouses and on Capitol Hill. 

Critical to Community Catalyst’s mission is building the capacity, influence and power of state and local organizations to bring a consumer voice to health policy change. Our approach is collaborative, with an emphasis on listening, sharing information and resources, and facilitating learning. We are excited to bring the rich library of resources and knowledge to our broader health advocacy network.

Once again, we want to thank CDHP for their leadership and contributions to advancing the health of children and their families over the last 22 years. Community Catalyst is grateful for their trust in us, and we are excited to build on CDHP’s legacy of progress as we strive to make a difference for children and families across the country. We look forward to working with you in the near future. Please be on the lookout over the next few months for updates on this important partnership.  

Community Catalyst is headquartered in Boston with offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, GA, Lansing, MI, New York, NY, Pittsburgh, PA and St. Louis, MO. For more information, you can view CDHP’s press release online here, as well as frequently asked questions about CDHP’s future, which may continue to be updated.