The State of Oregon is committed to ensuring that all Oregonians have appropriate access to high-quality health care across the state. It is therefore important to ensure that the distribution of the health care workforce appropriately meets the needs of all Oregonians no matter where they live. To help achieve this, the State of Oregon has made available ~$8 million in funding for grant awards for the Healthy Oregon Workforce Training Opportunity Grant Program (HOWTO). This grant program is administered under the direction of the Oregon Health Policy Board in partnership with the Oregon Health Authority and OHSU. 

The HOWTO Grant Program is intended to expand health professional training within the state to address current and future shortages in the health care workforce in rural and medically underserved areas of Oregon. The program supports innovative, transformative, community-based training initiatives that will address identified local health care workforce shortages and expand the diversity of the health professional workforce.

Request for Applications

Download the HOWTO Grant Program request for applications
Download the HOWTO Grant Program budget table

Submission deadline: May 24, 2019

Submission process details
Applications will be submitted electronically through the Competitive Application Portal.

• Create an account, using your email address.

• Add support@infoready.com to your list of trusted senders so you don't miss important information.

• Questions? Contact the application portal administrator.

Application Requirements

Applications are invited from Oregon community-based educational institutions, consortia, health care service organizations, health systems and others seeking funding to help launch new, innovative training initiatives to address documented shortages in specific areas of their local health care workforce.

The list below is a lens through which applications will be viewed. Item 1 is required; applications that also address items 2 and 3 will be considered to be fully responsive to the core tenets of the HOWTO Grant Program:

1. Expand current and/or develop new health professional training in a local area, which may include Graduate Medical Education.
   
2. Address health disparities and social determinants of health.
3. Support greater ethnic, racial and linguistic diversity and inclusion in Oregon's health care workforce. 

Applications in collaboration with established programs elsewhere in the state are strongly encouraged. 

Applications must leverage existing community resources and demonstrate a financial investment beyond the funds sought in the application.

Applicants must clearly demonstrate a data-supported health care workforce shortage in their community and describe how the proposed initiative will address this shortage.

All applications must include a detailed evaluation plan for their initiative. Applicants must also provide information on how the new initiative will continue to be supported in a sustainable manner once the grant has expired. 

Funding may be requested for up to 3 years. 

At this time, proposals of $500,000 and under are strongly encouraged. However, applications of up to $1 million are allowed. 

The application must include all costs, including leveraged funding and in-kind support.

Grant funds may not be used for capital construction costs. 

Grant funds may not be used for maintenance of effort (MOE) of existing activities. 

Any grant recipient must represent it has not discriminated against and will not discriminate against minority, women or emerging small business enterprises certified under ORS 200.055 in obtaining any required subcontractors. 

For those interested in applying, please refer to the application guidelines that outline eligibility requirements, expected contents of the application packet, review process and timeline.