Forward Community Investments funds dental clinic for low-income families

Forward Community Investments (FCI) will fill more than a few cavities this year.

The Madison firm, which offers financing to Wisconsin non-profits that serve low- and moderate-income communities, recently made the largest loan in its 18-year history to Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Programs, Inc. (SWCAP).

SWCAP develops and implements anti-poverty programs serving Richland, Grant, Iowa, Green, and Lafayette counties.

The $1.54 million loan will be put towards a dental clinic expansion that will serve indigent and low-income families and individuals in Dodgeville and surrounding areas. The US Department of Agriculture will provide long-term financing for the clinic.

The expanded clinic will take up 4,100 square feet and contain eight dental chairs, a new waiting room, reception area, and offices to service low-income clients. Access Community Health Center, who ran the original four-chair clinic, will take over operations once the expansion is complete in May of this year.

“It’s exciting for me for a couple reasons,” said Carrie Vanderford, vice president of lending services at FCI. “Number one, it is a large loan for us. Number two, this deal would not have gotten done if we didn’t make this loan.”

FCI usually provides loans around $200,000. But they dug deep into their pockets to fund the clinic.

For FCI president, Salli Martyniak, the investment matters because of the people it serves.

“This population, prior to the dental clinic, did not have free or affordable dental care. Think about that many people not having access to a root canal or to teeth cleaning,” said Martyniak.

FCI agreed to the unusually large loan after reviewing local need and the financial credentials of the groups involved.

The triennial Community Needs Assessment Survey helped SWCAP identify the need for a dental clinic. Every survey since 2004 found the lack of dental care to be the number one problem in the region..

SWCAP Executive Director, Wally Orzechowski explained that in early assessments, 25,000 people in the SWCAP service area were enrolled in Medicaid, but were not receiving dental care.

“Most [dentists] in the state of Wisconsin do not get reimbursed by Medicaid and Medicare, because they don’t have to. … It doesn’t pay to [accept Medicare and Medicaid],” said Vanderford.

The Dodgeville clinic will accept Medicaid, Medicare, and BadgerCare. 

Construction began in October 2011, and the loan is already going towards dental equipment, environmental remediation, and building contractors.

FCI underwrote the financials for both SWCAP and Access Community Health Center and continues to keep an eye on the progress.

“We spent a lot of time looking at who’s going to be in this building,” said Vanderford. “We looked at their business plan for how the clinic’s going to run. … We underwrote that to see – with the revenue that you get, are you going to be able to service your debt? Are you going to be able to keep your doors open?”

FCI feels confident that the clinic will eventually pay for itself while filling an important niche in Southwestern Wisconsin.

“We know it’s going to do well,” said Vanderford.