LEAD 6503 Module 5 Complete Grant Proposal and Budget Example

Sealing the Delta's Molars: A Complete Grant Proposal and Budget to Expand School-Based Dental Sealants to Eleven Waiting Schools

Student Name

American College of Education

LEAD6503: Grant Writing and Alternative Funding

Module 5 Assignment

Instructor Name

November 9, 2026

Proposal Summary

We request $130,614 for one year to bring school-based dental sealants to eleven more elementary schools in four Mississippi Delta counties, raising the number of schools served from 31 to 42. Our mobile team screens children, applies fluoride varnish, places sealants on permanent molars and connects children with urgent needs to treatment. Last year we screened 4,108 children; nearly half of third graders had decay that had never been treated, and roughly one in five arrived with any sealant at all. With this grant we will reach about 1,500 additional children, raise consent return to 75%, seal at least 85% of eligible molars and link at least 80% of children with urgent needs to a dentist within 60 days, while growing the Medicaid revenue that will sustain the expansion.

Organizational Background

Our nonprofit was founded six years ago by a pediatric dentist and two school nurses who saw children sent home with toothaches week after week. We hold agreements with four school districts, bill Medicaid for eligible services and refer children with urgent needs to a federally qualified health center that accepts them regardless of insurance. A six-member staff, supervised by a licensed dentist, delivers care from a van and portable equipment. Our budget last year was $410,000, and a clean annual audit and a board with members from each county oversee our work.

Statement of Need

Sealants prevent most decay in the permanent molars where children's cavities usually begin, yet nationally they reach low-income children less often than others, and those children are more likely to live with untreated decay (Griffin et al., 2016). In our counties the gap is wide: most children qualify for free school meals, two counties have no dentist accepting new young Medicaid patients and rural families may drive more than forty minutes for care. Poor oral health follows children into the classroom, where it has been linked to missed school and lower performance (Jackson et al., 2011). Eleven schools have asked for our program, and we cannot reach them with current funding.

Goals and Objectives

Goal 1: reduce new decay in children's permanent molars. Objectives: serve 42 schools in year one; raise consent return from 61% to 75%; seal at least 85% of eligible molars among consented second and third graders; find at least 85% of sealants retained at one-year recheck. Goal 2: connect children with dental needs to care. Objectives: link at least 80% of children with urgent needs to treatment within 60 days; help at least 300 families enroll or re-enroll children in public insurance by the end of year two.

Program Design

At each school, bilingual consent outreach, including text reminders and calls by school nurses, precedes a visit day on which hygienists screen consented children visually, apply fluoride varnish and place sealants on eligible molars. Our protocol follows national recommendations for school sealant programs, which support visual assessment and efficient preparation in school settings (Gooch et al., 2009). Children with urgent needs go home with a note, and our care coordinator reaches each family by phone within two school days to set up treatment. One year later we recheck and repair sealants. Waiting schools will be added in order of free-meal eligibility, and absent children will be seen at makeup visits. Every activity in the design maps to an objective, and every objective maps to a line in the budget below.

Evaluation

We will track each objective from records we already keep: visit schedules, consent counts against school enrollment, standard screening forms, recheck forms and the care coordinator's referral and enrollment logs. A public health professor at a regional university will audit a sample of forms and write an annual independent summary. Over several years we will compare decay among third graders in long-participating schools, presenting trends as consistent with program effect rather than proof. Reports will reach the foundation at six and twelve months.

Sustainability

This grant buys capacity, not a permanent subsidy. Better enrollment checks and billing are projected to raise annual Medicaid revenue by about $45,000. We are applying for the state's per-school sealant support this year, exploring a formal partnership with our health center partner that could enable higher reimbursement and seeking county contributions from all four counties. School-based sealant programs serving high-risk children have been found cost-saving (Griffin et al., 2017), a case we will make to every public partner. By year three we project that no single grant will exceed a third of our budget.

Budget

Personnel: half-time hygienist, $34,000; expansion of the care coordinator from half to full time, $21,000; added supervising dentist hours, $12,000. Fringe benefits at 22% of salaries: $14,740. Personnel subtotal: $81,740. Clinical supplies for eleven added schools (sealant material, varnish, disposables): $9,800. Van fuel and maintenance for the longer route: $7,200. Consent outreach (translation, text messaging service, printing): $4,600. Insurance enrollment events: $2,400. Evaluation (data preparation and reviewer stipend): $1,500. Equipment (replacement portable dental unit): $11,500. Total direct costs: $118,740. Indirect costs at 10% of direct costs: $11,874. Total request: $130,614.

Budget Justification

The hygienist and dentist hours make it possible to visit eleven more schools during the school year (Objectives 1.1 and 1.3). The full-time care coordinator drives Goal 2, because calling families about referrals and helping them enroll in coverage takes dedicated hours, and also improves Medicaid billing, which funds the program's future. Consent outreach costs serve Objective 1.2, which governs how many children can be reached at all. Supplies scale with the number of children served. The replacement dental unit replaces equipment now nine years old and prone to breakdowns that cancel school visits. The 10% indirect rate covers a share of administration, insurance and audit costs and is below the foundation's published maximum.

Other Funding for the Expanded Program

The foundation's grant would cover about a quarter of the expanded program's first-year budget of roughly $541,000. The rest comes from sources already in place or applied for: Medicaid reimbursement, projected at about $168,000 with improved billing; the state's per-school sealant support, applied for this winter; contributions from two counties now and, we hope, all four; local donors and a business sponsorship campaign; and a small contract with a private school network. A one-page organizational budget showing every source accompanies the proposal, so the foundation can see exactly how its investment fits.

Timeline

Months 1 and 2: hire the hygienist, expand the coordinator role, sign agreements with the eleven new schools. Months 3 to 9: visits to all 42 schools across the school year. Month 6: interim report to the foundation. Months 10 to 12: one-year sealant rechecks, independent data review and final report.

Attachments

The proposal will include the organization's determination letter, most recent audit, board list with county of residence, letters of commitment from the four school districts and the health center, the university reviewer's letter, the program's logic model and a one-page organizational budget showing all sources of revenue for the coming year.

Conclusion

This proposal asks a children's health foundation to help eleven waiting Delta schools receive a proven preventive service. Its need is documented with our own screening data and national evidence, its objectives are measurable from existing records, its design follows national recommendations, its evaluation is honest about what trends can show, its sustainability plan builds earned and public revenue and its budget ties every dollar to an objective.

References

Gooch, B. F., Griffin, S. O., Gray, S. K., Kohn, W. G., Rozier, R. G., Siegal, M., Fontana, M., Brunson, D., Carter, N., Curtis, D. K., Donly, K. J., Haering, H., Hill, L. F., Hinson, H. P., Kumar, J., Lampiris, L., Mallatt, M., Meyer, D. M., Miller, W. R., ... Zero, D. T. (2009). Preventing dental caries through school-based sealant programs: Updated recommendations and reviews of evidence. Journal of the American Dental Association, 140(11), 1356-1365. https://doi.org/10.14219/jada.archive.2009.0070

Griffin, S. O., Naavaal, S., Scherrer, C., Patel, M., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2017). Evaluation of school-based dental sealant programs: An updated Community Guide systematic economic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 52(3), 407-415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.10.004

Griffin, S. O., Wei, L., Gooch, B. F., Weno, K., & Espinoza, L. (2016). Vital signs: Dental sealant use and untreated tooth decay among U.S. school-aged children. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 65(41), 1141-1145. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6541e1

Jackson, S. L., Vann, W. F., Kotch, J. B., Pahel, B. T., & Lee, J. Y. (2011). Impact of poor oral health on children's school attendance and performance. American Journal of Public Health, 101(10), 1900-1906. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2010.200915