M E SS AG E F RO M T H E EXECU T IV E D IRE CTO R It is an honor to serve as the Executive Director of the Center for Oral Health, and to continue the legacy of the founders of The Dental Health Foundation, now The Center for Oral Health. It is a privilege to work with an intelligent, dedicated, and compassionate team of professionals that give the best of themselves to give access to oral health for all. Access to dental care remains an excruciating challenge for millions across the globe. The Center for Oral Health is challenged each year with serving better and serving more individuals in more communities. It is a difficult challenge for organizations that, like ours depend on the generosity of private foundations, the trust of our governmental institutions, and the confidence of our business partners to support our work through donations, grants, and contracts. We meet this challenge with great pride in our mission and continue to strengthen our work by building a stronger infrastructure, one that enables our team to do their work better. In Fiscal Year 2016-2017 we met this challenge by implementing a new Early Smiles program in Sacramento. This new initiative brought preventive dental care to nearly 10,000 school-aged children. We also opened a new dental clinic in Big Bear, a rural community where thousands of Medicaid recipients can now see a dentist. We also laid the ground for the opening of new dental clinics in Central Florida. On the research and public policy front we continued our work to assess the oral health status of California’s older adult population. We also continued to call attention to the inequality that exists in our healthcare system by working with communities of color, participating as a content expert in oral health forums statewide. Many thanks to our partners that support our work, to those who spread the voice about our work, to those who advocate on our behalf, to those who provide direct and indirect service to our clients, and to our esteemed Board of Directors, who give their time and expertise. You all are part of our success. Looking ahead, we will continue to build a stronger Center for Oral Health, to expand our reach by executing the COH 2020 Strategic Plan approved by the Board of Directors, and by being accountable to the values we uphold. I ask that you support our work by contributing with capital to expand what we do, and with ideas to improve how we do.
Conrado E. BĂĄrzaga, MD Executive Director 7 | C O H A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 017