Kentucky Rural Health Transformation: Establish or Expand Accredited Dental Hygiene Programs
Issuer: Kentucky Department for Public Health, Rural Health Transformation Program
Application status: Rolling basis. The current RFA states that applications will be considered on a rolling basis. May 29, 2026 was the priority date for funding available beginning August 1, 2026, but the Commonwealth’s current Rural Health Transformation funding page continues to list this opportunity without marking it closed. No final rolling closing date, clock time, or time zone is currently published. Applicants should confirm remaining funding availability before submission.
Funding: $9.9 million total funding available beginning August 1, 2026 for accredited dental hygiene programs. Award sizes vary based on the number of applicants and proposed budgets; the RFA does not publish a universal per-applicant maximum.
Eligible applicants: Nonprofit, Kentucky-based educational institutions with the capacity and authority to educate, train, and supervise dental hygiene students in accordance with Commission on Dental Accreditation standards. Examples include public or private colleges and universities, community and technical colleges, and other nonprofit academic institutions or consortia authorized to host CODA-accredited dental hygiene programs.
Purpose: Establish new or expand existing accredited dental hygiene programs, increase rural dental hygiene training slots, strengthen partnerships with rural service sites, and improve the rural oral-health workforce pipeline.
Allowable uses: Program-director and faculty costs, renovation of existing space, equipment supporting learning and simulations, teaching supplies, and CODA accreditation fees. New construction and significant building retrofits are not allowable. Indirect costs are capped at 10%, and total administrative costs funded by the award cannot exceed 10% of the award value.
Submission: The RFA directs applicants to submit responses to pam.stein@ky.gov. The official funding page also provides the required Attachment A budget template.
Atlas assessment
Atlas Grant Fit Score: 92/100
Healthcare fit: 97/100 for Kentucky nonprofit colleges, universities, community and technical colleges, and qualifying academic consortia that can establish or expand CODA-accredited dental hygiene capacity serving rural communities.
N9+ Fit Score: 20/100. The RFA permits education and simulation equipment, but N9+ is not specifically identified and should not be assumed allowable without direct program-fit confirmation.
QC Healthcare Fit: 70/100 where workforce-development, clinical-training, implementation, or rural oral-health partnership support is legitimately within the institution’s proposed scope.
Dr. Miltie direct applicant: No apparent direct path. The applicant must be an eligible Kentucky-based nonprofit educational institution.
Source-control note: This is a rolling opportunity, not a fixed-deadline round. The May 29, 2026 date in the RFA was the priority date for August 1, 2026 funding. Because the current Kentucky RHT funding page still lists the opportunity and does not mark it closed, Atlas treats it as currently open on a rolling basis while requiring funding-availability reverification before applicant outreach and submission.
Official sources: Kentucky Rural Health Transformation Funding Opportunities | Official RFA