Healthy Teeth for Kansans
Request for Oral Health Grant Proposals 2004
Grants will support oral health improvements to increase access to treatment and prevention services for unserved and underserved Kansans. Although no specific amount of funding has been set aside for these grants, the Health Fund trustees anticipate that more than $1,000,000 will be awarded through this Request for Proposals.
This is an invitation to submit proposals in specified categories. The final decision to fund any particular project, although within the broad confines of this Request for Proposals, remains with the Board of Trustees of the Health Fund. The Health Fund reserves the right to amend or terminate receipt of requests under this Request for Proposals at any time.
Eligible Applicants
- 501(c)(3) organizations
- Governmental entities
- Professional associations for educational and public benefit
projects
Size and period of grants
There is no set minimum or maximum amount of funding for a single grant. An anticipated range of grant size is shown for most categories to give some guidance to potential applicants. Funds are paid to approved projects as needed for the work. The total grant can be paid over a period of up to three years.
Dental Hygiene Projects in Public Settings
Eligible applicants may apply for funding to support dental hygienists to work in public health settings such as schools, retirement communities, and public health departments where persons with very limited dental service access will be served.[1] Grants may pay for training required for public health hygienist service; equipment and supplies; small facility improvements; accounting, legal and billing development; and other necessary start-up costs. Funding will be very limited for payments to dentists and hygienists for services, because long-term funding sources for these on-going expenses will need to be identified by the applicants. Sources of long-term funding could include Medicaid, HealthWave, sliding scale payments from consumers, local charitable funding sources and budgets of public health setting organizations. Anticipated range of grants will be $5,000 to $25,000, with the possibility of larger amounts for projects serving multiple locations.
Community Water Fluoridation
The Health Fund will continue to support start-up (and re-start) of community water fluoridation for Kansas water systems of all types. The detailed request for proposals issued for community water fluoridation grants is available for interested communities and groups.
Access for unserved and underserved Persons
Projects to provide treatment and prevention services to persons with limited access to oral health services may apply for funding to start-up or expand their services.[2] In most cases, these grants will be “linchpin” funding, providing the missing ingredient for programs with many elements already in place. For example, a project with available dental operatories might lack a dependable dentist and desire local match funding for state/federal loan forgiveness programs. Another program might have adequate dental workforce and only one operatory and can show that two operatories would materially increase efficiency and services. Projects may utilize paid or voluntary professional staff; however, no project will be supported which operates primarily by purchasing dental services at or near market rates. Projects to expand Medicaid and HealthWave provider numbers will be considered. The required element of all grants in this category is a strong likelihood of an increase in the number of prevention and treatment slots available for unserved and underserved persons for an extended period of time (beyond the grant period). When treatment services are the sole or primary service offered, there is a strong preference for projects which provide regular services on a daily or weekly basis versus more episodic delivery. The anticipated range of funding for grants in this category will be $10,000 to $100,000.
Integrating Oral Health in Medical and Other Settings
The goal for grants in this category is the increased delivery to unserved and underserved consumers by non-dental personnel of appropriate oral health services such as screenings, education, referrals and fluoride treatments. Grants could support trainings in professional entry education programs and continuing education venues; start-up of particular projects in settings such as child care centers; policy and legal work to reduce barriers to oral health services in these settings; evaluation of oral health services in non-dental settings; and innovative approaches to expansion of oral health services in these settings. Development of clear strategies to sustain services is expected. The anticipated range of funding for grants in this category will be $5,000 to $25,000.
Professional Education/Conferences
Grants in this category can support 1) workshop experiences for dental and non-dental professionals in areas of oral health work important to the Health Fund (for example, Medicaid practice management, fluoride varnish training, and services to young children) and 2) attendance by Kansans at national and regional meetings related to public health dental issues (for example, National Oral Health Conference and fluoridation conferences). Generally, costs of personal attendance at meetings of professional associations will not be supported. Anticipated range of grant size will be $2,000 to $10,000.
Special Opportunities to Advance Oral Health
The Health Fund has identified some additional areas of potential interest including:
- Support for an Oral Health Office of the State of Kansas
- Strategies to increase the available dental workforce targeted to underserved areas of Kansas
- Improved data about oral health status, and
- Public awareness and policy development.
Opportunities to advance oral health in these and other ways will be considered. Persons or groups desiring to determine Health Fund interest in projects within this more unspecified category are encouraged to consult with Health Fund program staff.
Process
Interested groups should communicate by phone or e-mail with program staff at the Health Fund. Through this communication, program staff can advise eligible applicants about the fit of their projects with the Health Fund’s interests as expressed in this RFP. When a project has potential to be funded, an eligible applicant will be instructed how to file a proposal.
Deadlines
There are four deadlines established for grouping proposals for review by the Programming and Evaluation Committee and Board of Trustees of the Health Fund. An application is received by the Health Fund when submitted electronically or, as of the postmark date, when placed in first-class, postage prepaid US Mail (please do not send by other methods).
| Proposal received by: | Funding decision by: | Funding available by: |
| January 5, 2004 | March 5 | April 1 |
| March 22 | May 14 | June 1 |
| July 12 | September 3 | October 1 |
| October 11 | December 3 | January 1, 2005 |
Proposals may be reviewed by outside reviewers familiar with the subject matter of the request, and submission of the proposal grants consent for this review.
Unsuccessful proposals can be discussed with Health Fund staff to gain insight about why the proposal was not funded. In many cases, these decisions depend upon the availability of funds and perceived comparative advantage of submitted projects.
Awards
Grants are made pursuant to Conditions of Grants which require that services be provided on a nondiscriminatory basis.[3] The Health Fund requires narrative and financial reporting from all projects, generally done on a six-month basis. Sample Conditions of Grants and reporting forms are available upon request. Appropriate evaluation must be specified in proposals and reporting is made relative to the mutually-accepted outcomes. More information about the Health Fund’s approach to evaluation can be gained from a booklet “Evaluation: What’s All the Fuss?” available upon request from the Health Fund office.
Contact Information
For more information about this Request for Proposals, please contact:
Virginia Elliott, Senior Program Officer
or
Kim Moore, President
United Methodist Health Ministry Fund
PO Box 1384 , Hutchinson KS 67504-1384
620.662.8586 (voice) 620.662.8597 (fax)
velliott@healthfund.org
kmoore@healthfund.org
www.healthfund.org
If you are interested in receiving notice of any amendments to this RFP or other oral health activities of the Health Fund, please e-mail your contact information to the Health Fund and indicate you are interested in on-going oral health updates.
Mission of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund :
Healthy Kansans through cooperative and strategic philanthropy, guided by Christian principles
December 2003
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[1] Public health settings where dental hygienists are permitted to practice under the general supervision of a dentist include public and non public schools, Head Start programs, state correctional institutions, local health departments, indigent health care clinics, adult care homes, hospital long-term care units, and homes of certain homebound persons (KSA Section 65-1456).
[2] Some projects might be within this broader category and the more specific categories for Dental Hygiene Projects in Public Settings and Integrating Oral Health in Medical and Other Settings. Guidance for the more specific category should be used in developing that proposal.
[3] Services must be provided without discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, national original, age (unless a stated part of the application), disability, gender or sexual orientation.