From the #deltadentalARFoundation: Almost all parents welcome support from family and friends after the arrival of a new baby and during the toddler years. But sometimes, that extended network doesn’t exist or is unable to provide guidance and experience. 

That’s when the Arkansas Home Visiting Network (Arkansas Children's) steps in to help. 

Literally. 

More than 400 trained educators, nurses, or social workers make repeated home visits to vulnerable families across the state to help motivated parents develop sound parenting skills. In one-on-one sessions with the parents, they instruct, encourage, and advise. 

They also drop off essential baby supplies and personal hygiene articles or household cleaning products. 

Even COVID-19 couldn’t disrupt these important visits. Coordinators and families met online or outside on driveways and porches while remaining socially distanced.
 
Throughout the last 20 years, the program has been shown to strengthen families and increase their chances of self-sufficiency. Most importantly, they aid in healthy child development.
 
However, until recently, an important piece was missing from this success story: oral health education.
 
The home visiting coordinators noticed many of their low-income clients didn’t have toothbrushes and toothpaste or that several family members shared one toothbrush. Baby teeth received little to no attention, and dentist visits were only considered once toothaches developed. 
 
A #CommunityGrant from the Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation has filled that gap. First awarded in 2019 and renewed again this year, the grant pays for dental kits and educational materials and training to serve up to 6,500 families or about 13,000 individuals. A curriculum for special-needs children is also included. 
  
The funding allows the network to “start a conversation about early oral health care with parents,” said Tyra Greenwood, director of the AHVN. “We hope that through this program, more children will come to understand the importance of dental health early in life.”

Transforming lives by equipping all families to help their children achieve their greatest potential is the Arkansas Home Visiting Network’s vision, and we applaud and support that vision.
 
Do you have a similar transformational vision? We would love to partner with you. Check out our grant opportunities here.

 

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