Program Instructions (PIs)—2005

Head Start Oral Health Initiative for Young Children, Birth to Five
ACYF–PI–HS–05–03

PROGRAM INSTRUCTION: [See Attachment at the bottom]

TO: Head Start and Early Head Start Grantees and Delegate Agencies

SUBJECT: Head Start Oral Health Initiative for Young Children, Birth to Five

INSTRUCTION:

The Head Start Bureau is announcing the Head Start Oral Health Initiative, which will provide supplemental funding to a group of Head Start programs for four funding years to improve oral health services to young children, from birth to five years, and pregnant women. Applications for these supplemental funds will be accepted from Head Start grantees wishing to develop projects that promote oral health education and prevention. For the purposes of this Program Instruction, the term ‘Head Start’ will refer to Head Start and Early Head Start.

The Oral Health Initiative builds upon the strong partnership between the Head Start Bureau and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau within the Health Resources and Services Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services. Together the partners are collecting examples of oral health promising practices and oral health service delivery models, as well as establishing partnerships with professional dental organizations nationwide. Those efforts and this Oral Health Initiative will enhance one another.

The Oral Health Initiative will fund efforts to develop, implement, and disseminate culturally sensitive, innovative, and empirically-based best practice models that target young children, birth to five years, and pregnant women. An important part of the Head Start Oral Health Initiative is to educate staff and parents about the importance of preventive oral health services for young children and pregnant women by focusing on local capacity building, education, infrastructure development, and community partnerships. It is expected that funded projects will develop innovative research-based systems or models of care that are appropriate for the children and families served by the grantee or delegate agency. Funded projects also will be expected to disseminate lessons learned and models of care to other Head Start grantees as well as to the broader field. All projects will be required to support data collection for a national evaluation that will be conducted for all project sites. Funded programs will also work with the national evaluator around defining the research questions, designing the questions and measures, and commenting on dissemination materials.

The Head Start Bureau is particularly interested in proposals that advance

• Significant contributions toward the advancement and improvement of oral health care delivery systems specifically for young children, birth to five years, and pregnant women in Head Start programs;
• The implications of culture on oral health practices in Head Start programs;
• High quality service delivery models that promote oral health as integral to health and oral health prevention principles supported by evidence-based curricula that include promising practices, oral health education, and counseling for parents and staff;
• Models of oral health care that are sustainable in a community through the development of collaborative partnerships with community and/or state agencies, as well as with groups, such as local dentists, dental and dental hygiene schools, local and state health and dental associations, Women Infants and Children clinics, pediatricians, dieticians, and other dental related groups;
• Proposals that emphasize buy-in from key stakeholders and demonstrate strategies for future funding and related support after the end of Federal grant support;
• Models of care that integrate oral health into existing local public or private health systems to improve access to care for young children and pregnant women, including the development of referral systems to access pediatric dental services, referral systems for pregnant women, and oral health education;
• Models of care that are replicable and include strategies to share models of care and to disseminate information and lessons learned about the Oral Health Initiative;
• Proposals that respond to issues addressed in Regional and State/Jurisdiction oral health strategic plans developed through Head Start Oral Health Forums.

ELIGIBILITY

Head Start programs in good standing serving pregnant women and young children, birth to five years, are eligible to apply. Some grantees may want to serve a subset of their enrollment. For example, if a grantee has both Head Start and Early Head Start grants they can apply to serve both, or just one or the other, depending on the need. A grantee may also choose to apply to serve part of their service area, again depending on need.

FUNDING

Approximately $2,000,000 is available for funding proposals under the Head Start Oral Health Initiative. It is expected that up to 50 programs will receive funding. Applicants may apply for a range of funding, based upon program size, not to exceed $75,000 for the first funding year. Continued funding in the same amount for the additional years of the project are dependent upon availability of funds and acceptable program progress on the initiative. The Head Start Bureau understands that cost requirements for different applicants may vary based on several factors, such as the way the initiative is structured, whether the grantee selects to include all or a portion of their enrollment in the initiative, the costs of operating in different communities, and the extent to which resources can be obtained from other funding sources or partners. Applicants should submit a budget that reflects the needs of their particular application.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Applicants must submit applications that fully comply with the attached Application Instructions and Requirements, including mailing information and the closing date for submission. Applications that do not conform to the application requirements will be screened out and not considered for funding.

All applications will be reviewed by an independent review panel, using the attached evaluation criteria. The Administration on Children, Youth and Families Commissioner will make the final decision on which applicants to fund, using the results of the review process as well as other factors, such as the need to ensure a reasonable geographic distribution of projects, an appropriate balance between urban and rural projects, between large and small projects, and the need to fund a variety of different proposed strategies.

This is an important opportunity to enhance oral health services to young children and pregnant women, to educate staff and parents in oral health prevention, to build community capacity, and to disseminate lessons learned nationwide. We encourage you to consider submitting a funding request for this important initiative.

Sincerely,

(Download in PDF)

Attachment:

[Attachment] Oral Health Initiative Application Instructions and Requirements