Last updated: September 9, 2026 

Federal grant funding is the backbone of the community health center model, but the landscape in 2026 is more complicated than in prior years. The programs worth tracking aren’t just the ones currently accepting applications. 

Three shifts should influence how you approach federal funding right now: 

  1. Funding is stable but short-authorized. The 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act modestly increased health center funding to $4.6B for FY 2026, along with $350M for the National Health Service Corps and $225M for Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education. But Community Health Center Fund authorization runs only through December 2026, the second consecutive short-term cycle. Build FY 2027 budgets against more than one scenario. 
  2. Review priorities have shifted. The FY 2026 Health Center Program Service Area Competition explicitly ties funding to alignment with Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) priorities: chronic disease prevention and management, nutrition, reducing overreliance on medication, and environmental health. Applications that lead with health equity and social determinants language, which scored well in prior cycles, are now being evaluated through a different lens. This is the single most actionable thing on this page: The same project can score differently depending on how it’s framed. 
  3. The agency structure is moving. HRSA is being consolidated into the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) alongside SAMHSA and other units, and grants management is migrating from the Electronic Handbook (EHB) to GrantSolutions. Expect processing delays, train backup staff on the new system, and build extra lead time into submissions. 

Related resources: Rural Health Transformation Program funding is federal, but it is administered by states with their own application processes and timelines. We track those separately on our RHTP blog. For foundation, state, and regional opportunities, see our Non-Federal Grants blog. 

How to use this page: Check the “Last updated” date above. Federal deadlines shift and agencies occasionally amend or extend notices; always confirm against the linked notice of funding opportunity before building an application timeline. 

Recurring Federal Funding Programs to Plan For

These programs are not currently accepting applications or are open only to specific cohorts. They are listed because they recur on predictable cycles and represent the largest and most reliable federal funding available to health centers. Winning organizations typically begin preparing between cycles. 

HRSA-27-005 Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) Service Area Competition (SAC)

Deadline: Phase 1 due in grants.gov Oct 19, 2026. Phase 2 due in HRSA Electronic Handbook (EHB) November 18, 2026

Description: The FY 2027 Health Center Program Service Area Competition (SAC) funding improves the health of medically underserved communities and populations by providing grants to support the delivery of comprehensive, high-quality preventive and primary health care services in the United States and its territories. For each SAC Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), service areas available for competition are announced in the Service Area Announcement Table (SAAT). Throughout the year, we may announce additional service areas in a Service Area Competition-Additional Area (SAC-AA) if an awarded health center cannot continue to provide services in the funded service area.

Eligibility: A Health Center Program (H80) award is funded under section 330(e) of the Public Health Service Act. Awards may include funding to support health centers serving special medically underserved populations, as detailed on the SAAT for each service area. You can apply if you propose to serve a service area listed in the SAAT and you meet the criteria in the Other Eligibility Criteria section. You can apply as a:

  • Competing Continuation applicant if you are a current Health Center Program (H80) award recipient, and you are applying to continue serving your current service area.
  • Competing Supplement applicant if you are a current Health Center Program (H80) award recipient who will serve an announced service area by adding one or more new, full-time, permanent service delivery sites to serve the additional area.
  • New applicant if you are not currently funded through the Health Center Program, and you are applying to serve a service area listed in the SAAT. If you are a Health Center Program Look-Alike, you must apply as a new applicant. If awarded, you will stop being a look-alike and become a funded health center (H80).

Award amount: Up to 63 awards, total funding $267,773,700

HRSA-27-017 Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program (Forecasted)

Post Date: July 31, 2026

Description: The purpose of the THCGME Program is to provide maintenance funding to support the training of residents in existing HRSA-supported primary care residency training programs in community-based ambulatory patient care centers. These programs will prepare residents to provide high-quality care, particularly in rural and medically vulnerable communities, and develop competencies to serve a wide range of populations and communities.

Eligibility: Applicants must be community based, ambulatory patient care center that operates an accredited primary care residency program. They may operate directly or through a graduate medical education (GME) consortium. The residency program must be in one or more of the following specialties/disciplines: Family Medicine Internal Medicine Pediatrics Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Obstetrics and Gynecology Psychiatry General Dentistry Pediatric Dentistry Geriatrics. Program payment recipients that fail to meet any eligibility criteria will not be considered for funding under this announcement.

Award Amount: $320,000 – $2,800,000

HRSA-27-069 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part C Capacity Development Program (Forecasted)

Post Date: January 15, 2027

Description: The purpose of the program is to strengthen the capacity of community-based organizations to improve health outcomes and reduce HIV transmission, especially for people not yet in regular HIV care. The activities fall under two categories: HIV Care Innovation and Infrastructure Development.

Eligibility: City or township governments, State governments, Special district governments, County governments, Federally recognized Native American tribal governments, Other Native American tribal organizations, Nonprofits non-higher education without 501(c)(3), Nonprofits non-higher education with 501(c)(3), Private institutions of higher education, Public and state institutions of higher education, Small businesses, For-profit organizations other than small businesses

Award Amount: $150,000

HRSA-27-013 Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act Program (Forecasted)

Post Date: January 26, 2027

Description: This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act (NHHCIA) program. The purpose of these Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act (NHHCIA) awards is to provide Native Hawaiian health care programs with resources to raise the health status of Native Hawaiians to the highest possible health level. This NOFO supports funding the following:

    • One award to Papa Ola Lokahi (POL) for administrative purposes as authorized under sections 6(a)(2) and 7 of the NHHCIA (42 U.S.C. sections 11705(a)(2) and 11706)
    • Five awards for qualified entities as authorized under sections 6(a)(1),6(b)-(g) and 8(a)-(g) of the NHHCIA (42 U.S.C. sections 11705(a)(1), 11705(b)-(g) and 11707(a)-(g)). Per statute, a qualified entity is a Native Hawaiian Health Care System (NHHCS) that has been recognized and certified by POL as qualified to provide comprehensive health promotion, disease prevention, and primary health services that are tailored to fit the needs of the communities they serve.

Eligibility: Per sections 6(a) and 7(a) of the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act, this is a limited competition program notice. To be eligible for administrative funding under this program, you must be Papa Ola Lokahi (POL). To be eligible for services funding under this program, you must be a Native Hawaiian Health Care System (NHHCS) that has been recognized and certified by POL as qualified to provide comprehensive health promotion, disease prevention, and primary health services within specific regions (island communities) of the state.

Award Amount: $2,530,712 – $10,000,000

HRSA-27-008 Service Area Competition (Forecasted)

Description: The FY 2027 Health Center Program Service Area Competition (SAC) funding improves the health of medically underserved communities and populations by providing grants to support the delivery of comprehensive, high-quality preventive and primary health care services in the United States and its territories.

Eligibility:

Government

  • State governments
  • Federally recognized Native American tribal governments
  • Public and Indian housing authorities
  • City or township governments
  • County governments
  • Special district governments

Nonprofit

  • Other Native American tribal organizations
  • Nonprofits non-higher education with 501(c)(3)
  • Nonprofits non-higher education without 501(c)(3)

Award amount: $650,000

Before You Apply

A few things that consistently separate successful federal applications from unsuccessful ones in the current environment: 

  • Reframe before you rewrite. Applications built around health equity and social determinants language should be re-examined against MAHA priorities. The underlying work often already qualifies, including chronic disease management, nutrition, prevention, and substance use services, but your narrative and outcome measures should explicitly connect the proposed work to those priorities.
  • Confirm the funding pathway. Check whether the program you are targeting is a direct federal competition or administered through your state. This is the most common mistake we see. 
  • Verify your SAC cohort now. Line 26 of your most recent H80 Notice of Award tells you whether you are applying in FY 2027 or FY 2028. The difference in preparation time is a year. 
  • Account for system lag. With the EHB-to-GrantSolutions migration underway, alongside HRSA staffing reductions, processing delays are a realistic risk. Train backup staff, submit early, and keep screenshots and copies of every submission. 
  • Prepare between cycles. For every program on this page currently marked as between cycles, the work that wins the next round—needs data, outcome metrics, partner commitments, budget narratives—can be done now. This is where grant support tends to pay for itself, well before a notice posts. 

How VMG Health Can Help

Federal grant competitions reward organizations that were prepared before the notice posted. By the time a NOFO appears, the work that wins it either exists or it doesn’t. 

Our grant writing services team provides full-cycle support for healthcare organizations: identifying which opportunities are worth pursuing, aligning proposals with current federal review priorities, and producing applications that hold up under merit review. For health centers weighing bigger structural questions, like Look-Alike designation, service expansion, or whether a given opportunity fits the organization at all, our community health optimization and FQHC development team supports exactly those decisions. 

If you are trying to decide where to focus this cycle, reach out to our team and we can talk it through.