Eileen Espejo leads Children Now’s oral health projects and The Children’s Movement of California.

Ms. Espejo leads the organization’s efforts to improve oral health care quality and access for children in California. This work has included leading a medical-dental collaboration project in Los Angeles County to increase dental utilization among children under age 6 enrolled in Medi-Cal, and helping the state implement a pediatric oral health action plan as called for by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She has served as a leader and advisory member on several national, state, and local advisory boards, including as National Oral Health Connection Team Leader of the Oral Health Progress & Equity Network (OPEN), the California Oral Health Advisory Partnership, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Oral Health Steering Committee, and as Chair of the Alameda County Oral Health Subcommittee.

Ms. Espejo leads efforts to recruit member organizations to join and participate in The Children’s Movement, a network of direct service, business, parent, student, civil rights, faith, and community groups that want children’s needs prioritized in public policy. As part of this work, she has co-developed activities and curated resources for The Children’s Movement Equity Fellows Program to promote anti-racist practices to undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in pursuing public policy and systems change.

Ms. Espejo has also chaired an internal racial equity workgroup to help develop and promote equitable practices across the organization to help provide resources and training to project leaders and staff.  She continues to help with internal efforts to both assess and facilitate conversations about racial equity and how to promote anti-racist practices in Children Now’s work.