A $1,000 scholarship funded by the Virginia Dental Hygienists’ Association Foundation and administered by the ADHA Institute for Oral Health (IOH) created to honor our deceased colleague and benefactor, Alice Hinchcliffe Williams, RDH, MS. Alice’s generosity enabled establishment of the VDHA Foundation to serve as the primary provider of lifelong learning for dental hygienists throughout Virginia.
The annual scholarship is awarded to an ADHA member, who is a Virginia resident enrolled as a part-time or full-time student (preference given to part-time student) in a graduate degree program in dental hygiene or a graduate program directly related to the professional roles of the dental hygienist. Upon application to the IOH, candidate must demonstrate a minimum grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Scholarship is awarded upon merit, fulfillment of the above criteria, and approval of the applicant’s written narrative.
The IOH applications are available annually on October 1st and deadline for submission is February 1st. All students meeting the requirements listed under the “Eligibility” section of the IOH website are encouraged to apply. Award recipients will be notified no later than June 30th.
Charitable Grants
To be considered for funding, proposed projects must demonstrate how they will accomplish one or more of the following:
Improving the community’s general oral health status.
The fund’s granting priorities include increasing awareness and understanding of current and future environmental changes affecting the delivery of oral health care services. Programs that seek ways to provide disease prevention services, oral health related education and/or the development of quality assessments for community health care settings will be considered for funding. Efforts to provide oral health care programs and services for individuals with special needs will also be considered.
Containing the growth of the community’s health care costs.
Identifying areas of oral health care that have rising costs and developing programs that help contain that growth also fall within the granting priorities of the Fund. Programs that improve the efficiency of oral health services, case management and continuity of care will be considered, as will those that reduce or avoid duplicating costs.
Improving the access of the poor and other dentally underserved populations to high quality medical care.
The Fund will help support programs that increase community awareness of oral health care problems facing racial and ethnic minorities, the economically disadvantaged, and the dentally underserved. Such efforts may include improving accessibility and continuity of care, as well as reducing disparities in oral health care services. Efforts to increase the number of minorities and poor entering oral health care professions, and to encourage others to work in medically underserved areas will also be considered for funding.
Educational Grants
To be considered for funding, proposed projects must demonstrate how they will accomplish one or more of the following:
Improve dental educators’ and dental hygiene student’s access to mentoring programs for Virginia Dental Hygiene programs.
The Fund will help support programs that develop networking, liaisons and formal relationships between the Virginia Dental Hygiene programs and VDHA and its components; to promote early conversion of dental hygiene students to professional membership status; and to promote their subsequent professional development which will improve the strategic position of organized dental hygiene within the healthcare system.
Improve awareness that oral health is an integral component of total wellness. Increase public awareness about the cost benefits of prevention.
Education that oral health is an integral component of total wellness and identifying those areas of oral health care that have rising costs and developing educational programs that help contain that growth also fall within the granting priorities of the Fund. Programs that seek ways to provide disease prevention educational services and oral health related education will be considered for funding.
Speaker Sponsorship
The VDHA Foundation will administer the “Speaker Sponsorship Award Program” through the assets created by the Alice Hinchcliffe Williams Continuing Education Fund. This is an annual, competitive program for each component to apply for consideration of the award to help fund their continuing education program they desire to conduct in their regional area. The Foundation may award up to $500 given the application is completed and received according to the guidelines set forth by the foundation.