Minnesota Council on Foundations Blog – Philanthropy Potluck

The Early Childhood Dental Network is a nine-county, multi-disciplinary collaborative project.

While researching strengths and gaps in early childhood care and education in west central Minnesota communities, MCF member West Central Initiative (WCI) heard a common plea,

“We need better access to dental care for our children!”

WCI, working with 35 regional organizations, has turned that challenge into the Early Childhood Dental Network (ECDN).

The group educates children and their caregivers about the importance of good oral health.

Collaborative members are also working to increase access to oral health care, especially among low-income children. More than 40% of children in the region qualify for a Minnesota health care program, but most dentists in the area do not accept public payments for care.

Read more about how the group used mobile outreach clinics to brighten the smiles of 1,600 children during the last 12 months.

That, and much more, in the summer issue of Giving Forum on collaboration — online and in your mailbox now.

- Susan Stehling, MCF communications associate

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2012 at 9:51 am and is filed under children, collaboration, community foundations, giving forum, Greater Minnesota, health, in the news, mcf, nonprofits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.