Healthy Teeth for Kansans

NOTE: This is an expired RFP.

Click here to see the current RFP.

Request for Oral Health Grant Proposals 2005

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 $750,000 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 sizes 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.

Access to Treatment and Prevention Services

Goal: Increased number of sustainable treatment and prevention service slots

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.

In most cases, these grants will be "linch-pin" funding, providing the missing ingredient for programs with many elements already in place. For example, a project might have adequate dental workforce and only one operatory and can show that two operatories would materially increase efficiency and services.

Project may utilize paid or volunteer professional staff; however, no project will be supported which operates primarily by purchasing dental services at or near market rates. Project to expand the number of Medicaid and HealthWave providers 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 under-served 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 that 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.

Community Water Fluoridation

Goal: Increased number of water system consumers having fluoridated drinking water

The Health Fund will support start-up (and restart) 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.

Integrating Oral Health into Medical and Social Service Settings

Goal: Increase in number of non-dental personnel delivering appropriate oral health services to unserved and under-served consumers

This category will support projects using non-dental personnel to deliver 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; 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.

Workforce Recruitment, Retention, and Career Education Projects

Goal: Implement and evaluate strategies to recruit and retain dentists and hygienists in under-served areas.

Strategies to locate and retain dentists in under-served areas -- both rural and urban -- will be funded in this category. Strategies may be statewide, regional, or local in scope.

All grants must be collaborative in nature with other cash funding and significant in-kind support committed. Efforts to attract young people into oral health careers will be considered as well as individual recruitment efforts. In the case of individual recruitment efforts, the professional must be willing to provide access during a reasonable period for Medicaid and HealthWave clients and other populations without financial access to services. Recruitment of dentists from existing practices in Kansas will not be considered unless the existing practice is in an area that is not or will not become underserved.

Substantive evaluation of the success of the effort will be required in each funded project and may require an amount of grant funding to underwrite that evaluation.

The anticipated range of funding for grants in this category will be $5,000-$25,000 (local) and $10,000-$50,000 (regional and state).

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 Request for Proposals. When a project has potential to be funded, an eligible applicant will be instructed how to file a proposal.

Deadlines

There are 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:
March 21, 2005	May 12	July 1
July 11	September 20	November 1
October 10	December 1	January 1, 2006

(The October 10th filing opportunity may be canceled if allocable funding has been spent. Groups considering filing for this date should contact the Health Fund office.)

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. 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.

All projects are expected to be members of Oral Health Kansas and may include membership fees in the project budget. Projects may be asked to participate in one presentation about their work; expenses related to those presentations will be paid by the Health Fund in addition to grant awards.

General Health Fund grant guidelines applicable to all projects can be found on the Health Fund website.

Contact Information

For more information about this Request for Proposals, please contact:

Virginia Elliott, Vice President for Programs
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 2004

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