About Project Categories

The primary responsibility of the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) is to promote and improve the health of America's infants, children, adolescents, and families. Following is a description of oral health projects supported by Title V of the Social Security Act, Special Projects of Regional and National Significance and by supplemental funds for oral health appropriated by congress to MCHB.

Alliance for Information on Maternal and Child Health (AIM)
This grant program is a collaborative of 16 national membership organizations and MCHB. The purpose of the collaborative is to help members of these organizations make well-informed decisions, effective public health policies, and programs for women, children, and families.

Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children
The purpose of these grants is to engage communities in promoting access to health care for mothers and children.

Integrated Systems Development
The purpose of these grants is to strengthen partnerships between all organizations (e.g., maternal and child health (MCH), Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, other health and human services programs) to improve the capacity of states and local communities to better address the development of comprehensive systems of quality health care, including oral health, for all children and adolescents.

National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center
The purpose of this project is to respond to the needs of states and communities in addressing current and emerging public oral health issues. The resource center collaborates with federal, state, and local agencies; national and state organizations and associations; and foundations to gather, develop, and share quality and valued information and materials. The resource center also serves as the principal vehicle for the collection, review, and dissemination of Head Start oral health technical and programmatic information and materials.

National Oral Health Policy Center
This project provides information and data on access to oral health care and identifies ways in which oral health may be better integrated with other health services. The center provides information and support for national, state, and local (MCHB) programs and develops policy that advances oral health and dental care for MCHB populations. The center posts publications and policy briefs on maternal and child health oral health policy and provides consultation and technical assistance to numerous organizations and states.

Partners in Program Planning in Adolescent Health Initiative (PIPPAH)
The purpose of these grants is to improve adolescent health status by promoting an adolescent health agenda among key professional disciplines likely to have encounters with adolescents and their families.

Partnership for Information and Communication (PIC)
This program consists of cooperative agreements with policymaking organizations representing national, state and community constituencies. It was developed to broaden the MCH knowledge base and provide leadership to organizations and groups that provide the basic health safety net for MCH populations. PIC member organizations strive to promote new partnerships and strengthen existing relationships to respond to growth and change in MCH care.

Partnership for State Oral Health Leadership
This project supports partnerships within state dental public health communities and among Medicaid and private sector providers to increase access to early intervention, preventive, and restorative oral health services for mothers and children.

Research
The purpose of these grants is to focus on identifying more effective and efficient ways to provide oral health prevention and early intervention services.

State Oral Health Collaborative Systems
The purpose of these grants is to improve the integration of oral health into state MCH programs, address MCHB performance measures, and implement the Surgeon General’s Call to Action as it affects women, children, and adolescents.

Targeted Oral Health Service Systems
The purpose of this grant program is to support states in implementing preventive and restorative oral health service programs for Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program eligible children, and other underserved children and their families. State strategies specifically address improvement within one or more of the following program areas: expanding services to children with special health care needs; increasing the number of children receiving age 1 dental visits; and, increasing the number of children completing restorative treatment needs identified through sealant programs.

Training
The purpose of these grants is to fund public and private nonprofit institutions of higher learning to provide leadership training in MCH. The grants with an oral health focus address the need for access to preventive oral health care and treatment for oral disease for children at highest risk of suffering from oral disease.