Dear Friend,

Thank you for being part of the KinderSmile Foundation village! Your continued support helps us invest in our patients and families holistically.

On February 25, 2025 Governor Murphy delivered the final budget address of his administration, a tight budget with no mention of oral health. On the same day, 18 years ago, Deamonte Driver died from a tooth infection that traveled to his brain. KinderSmile Foundation was established following his heartbreaking death, and the work that we do every day is in his honor.

As a leading nonprofit organization with a mission to provide underserved communities in New Jersey with access to oral health care, we advance our mission daily, opening the doors to all patients starting at infancy, regardless of means, insurance coverage or immigration status.

We are excited to share the latest from KinderSmile Foundation, including our celebration of Give Kids a Smile Month and our continued expansion of access to oral health care.

We are truly grateful to YOU, our donors, grantors, volunteers, and friends who are all part of the KinderSmile Foundation village. Together, we can work towards our vision of a future where every child has access to a dentist and preventable dental diseases are eradicated. Your steadfast support and generosity are truly appreciated! #ItTakesAVillage

Blessings,

Nicole McGrath-Barnes, DDS, FACD

Founder & CEO

Michal Herman, DDS, FACD

COO

The Latest from KinderSmile Foundation

Give Kids a Smile 2025

KinderSmile Foundation recognized National Children’s Dental Health Month by honoring KSF’s 18th annual Give Kids a Smile throughout the entire month of February!

The events were celebrated at KinderSmile Community Oral Health Centers Bloomfield, Newark, and Trenton, as well as through fun engaging oral health education sessions at many of our community partners. What Give Kids a Smile Day does nationally, is what we do 365 days a year through KinderSmile Foundation's mission to provide underserved children and their families access to comprehensive dental care and educate children and their families about the importance of dental hygiene. KinderSmile Foundation provides a crucial link to a brick and mortar Dental Home to all children seen on GKAS and always.

As an organization, we served 1,086 at-risk children in February, and provided oral health education to 1,641 additional children!

Of the patients seen 93.4% were uninsured or underinsured, and only 6.6% had private dental insurance.

The value of care was an astounding $581,573 for the services provided to children!

A special note of appreciation goes out to Delta Dental of New Jersey Foundation for their continued support of KinderSmile Foundation’s Give Kids a Smile Day, and to Delta Dental of NJ volunteers who joined our celebration and provided fun interactive activities for the children. Thank you to representatives from Horizon NJ Health and Fidelis Care, who visited our Dental Homes to help families navigate the Medicaid application process.

We are blessed to have our village of compassionate and dedicated KinderSmile Foundation staff, Community Service Learning Program student volunteers, and our Give Back a Smile Program dental professional volunteers! Thank you all for making an impact on the community!

KinderSmile Community Oral Health Newark

at the Boys and Girls Club of Newark

KinderSmile Foundation is in the community and for the community. In 2019, we partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Newark to establish a satellite Dental Home within the facility. KinderSmile Community Oral Health Center Newark is a special Dental Home that provides a unique opportunity for Club members to be served without their caretakers when consented at registration, relieving caretakers of transportation and childcare barriers, and reducing school and work absenteeism.

Children in the US lose over 51 million school hours each year due to dental problems, and those with poor oral health are nearly 3 times more likely to miss school as a result of dental pain, and more likely to have lower school performance.

This month, we are proud to announce that the Newark Dental Home has been updated fully, featuring a bright and colorful KinderSmile Community Oral Health Center! Hours and days of operation have been expanded to three days a week, opening the doors to Boys and Girls Club members as well as the community at large. Our school-based KinderSmile Oral Health Program and the Perinatal Health and Wellness Program are expanding their outreach in the surrounding community, and linking children and mothers to the Dental Home for continuity of care.

The generosity of Dr. Michael Gruber and Henry Schein Cares enabled the launch of this expansion. Thank you!

In order to be fully available to the community and make a long lasting impact, we are seeking your support. Please help us change the landscape of access to oral health care in the medically underserved City of Newark.

Support KSCOHC Newark

Villager Highlight

Workforce development, mentorship, and support of future dental health care leaders are essential to addressing persistent inequities in access to care and leaving a long lasting imprint.

Through collaborations and partnerships with dental assisting, dental hygiene, dental schools, and residency programs in our communities we emphasize the importance of joining Public Health Dentistry. Disparities in access to care have affected so many for far too long, and in order to bridge the gap we need to entice more providers to come into the communities and serve.

Dr. Jasmine Luke graduated from the UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry.

As an undergraduate student, she was the president of the Student Organization for Unique Learners at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, serving children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She spent time volunteering with kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other IDDs. She shares about an Easter Egg Hunt for children with visual impairment. It sparked her interest in serving at-risk communities.

In her General Practice Residency at Mountainside Medical Center, Dr. Luke had a continued interest in treating children with developmental disabilities. Her interest in Public Health Dentistry solidified during her GPR rotation at KinderSmile Community Oral Health Center Bloomfield. She cites the passion she felt in her conversation with Dr. Herman, and the mesmerizing compassion KinderSmile Foundation providers had for the children they were treating, as the reasons for this confirmation.

Dr. Luke came onboard as a provider, stating that she felt at home as soon as she started, amongst a like-minded community. She shares her love for treating the children, gaining their trust, and how the relief at the end of a difficult case makes the struggle worth it. “Kids are forgiving, they are the best!”

With continued growth of her passion, she was recently promoted to Dental Home Director of the newly updated KinderSmile Community Oral Health Center Newark at the Boys and Girls Club of Newark.

Congratulations, Dr. Luke! We can’t wait to see you continue to shine!