ADA News

In its continuing effort to prevent oral disease in children, the ADA Foundation Samuel Harris Fund has awarded 10 organizations with grants totaling $50,000.

Each 2010 Harris Fund Grant recipient was chosen for designing a program focused on early childhood caries prevention and also for including an educational component aimed at pregnant women, parents and caregivers.

"On behalf of the ADA Foundation, I congratulate the Harris Grant recipients and extend our appreciation for their organizations' outreach to improve oral health for young children and their families," said ADA Foundation President Dr. Arthur Dugoni.

The following organizations received grants:

• Colorado Area Health Education Center, Aurora, Colo.;
• La Clinica de La Raza, Oakland, Calif.;
• Primary Health Care Inc., Urbandale, Iowa;
• St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation, Billings, Mont.;
• Youth & Family Services Inc., Rapid City, S.D.;
• Children's Dental Services, Minneapolis;
• Community Health & Emergency Services, Carbondale, Ill.;
• Dental Aid Inc., Louisville, Colo.;
• Geisinger Health System Foundation, Daville, Penn.;
• New York University, New York City.

In 1998, Dr. Samuel Harris, a noted pediatric dentist and philanthropist, challenged the then-ADA Health Foundation to match his generous donation and endow a fund for oral health education and primary prevention of childhood dental disease.

Dr. Harris' legacy and spirit of giving lives on in the ADAF Harris Fund for Children's Dental Health, which for 11 years has enabled the ADA Foundation to provide annual grants to nonprofit organizations and positively impact children's lives.

For more information about all ADAF programs, visit www.adafoundation.org. The 2010-11 Harris Fund Program information will be updated beginning in October.