The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today the availability of $52.5 million in grants to community-based organizations that would provide suicide prevention services for veterans and their families.
That includes conducting veteran mental health screenings, providing case management and peer support services, delivering emergency clinical services and reaching out to veterans at risk of suicide among other things.
These grants will be awarded through VA’s Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program. The Notice of Funding Opportunity provides information about the program, eligibility, and award process.
Applications are due by 11:59 pm ET on May 19 and awards will be granted to eligible entities by Sept. 30. The funds will be used by the selected organizations in Fiscal Year 2024.
Preventing Veteran suicide has continued to be the VA’s top clinical priority and a top priority of the Biden-Harris Administration. This effort is a key part of VA’s 10-year National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide and the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan for Reducing Military and Veteran Suicide.
In September, VA released the 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which showed that Veteran suicides decreased in 2020 for the second year in a row, and that fewer Veterans died by suicide in 2020 than in any year since 2006.
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“Veterans at risk of suicide deserve quick and easy access to mental health screenings, peer support, emergency services, and more – both from VA and community-based organizations,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough.
“There are countless great organizations across America that are providing Veterans with this type of local, on-the-ground support, and we at VA are proud to support their efforts.”
This will be the second round of grants awarded as part of VA’s Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program.
In September 2022, VA awarded grants for the program’s first year, totaling $52.5 million to 80 awardees in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and American Samoa. The grant program is named after Parker Gordon Fox, a sniper instructor who died by suicide at the age of 25.
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