The Department of Veterans Affairs awarded $2.5 million in grants to five community organizations that provide suicide prevention services to veterans in Ohio.
The funding is part of $112 million in grants awarded to 191 organizations nationwide to support suicide prevention efforts.
The funding is provided through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) and will become available at the start of fiscal year 2027. Grants are accessible to nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, federally recognized tribes and other community-based organizations that have demonstrated a capacity to serve veterans.
Suicide prevention is VA’s top clinical priority and all VA healthcare facilities provide veterans same-day emergency mental health care access if they need it.
Reaching veterans in need of help, however, can be a challenge. For instance, 61% of veterans who died by suicide in 2023 — the most recent year for which data is available – were not receiving VA healthcare in the last year of their lives. Fox grants can help bridge this gap by directing funding to community-based organizations.
“Community organizations play a vital role in strengthening the support network available to Ohio veterans,” said Katina Stone-Jones, acting executive director for VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System. “These grants provide veterans with lifesaving support and ensure they have access to the care and resources they deserve right here in our community.”
For details about eligibility, priorities and application requirements for SSG Fox SPGP, visit SSG Fox SPGP website.
Grant recipients
Ohio
- Sub Zero Mission: $100,000. Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Franklin, Fulton, Geauga, Henry, Holmes, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Mahoning, Medina, Montgomery, Ottawa, Portage, Sandusky, Stark, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Warren, Williams and Wood counties.
- A&R Behavioral Health, Inc.: $750,000. Athens, Fairfield, Hocking, Jackson, Licking, Muskingum Perry, Pickaway and Ross counties.
- Butler County Community Health Consortium: $649,427. Butler and Montgomery counties.
- Maumee Valley Guidance Center, Inc.: $445,069. Defiance, Fulton, Henry, and Williams counties.
- McBride Pathways for Veterans: $500,465. Butler, Hamilton, and Warren counties.
Western Pennsylvania
Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, Inc.: $750,000. Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Warren, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
For a complete list of appropriations by state, see here.
More about the Fox grant
The Fox grant program extends VA’s suicide prevention efforts into communities to reach veterans who are not connected to VA care. In calendar year 2025, approximately 17,000 veterans, service members and family members received services through Fox grantees. That’s a 31% increase from 2024, and the number of veterans served in 2026 is expected to be even higher.
In 2025, 344 at-risk veterans were connected to lifesaving emergency mental healthcare through these grants, and VA expects this number to rise in 2026. Fox grantees also connected 2,647 veterans who had not previously used VHA services to VA care and resources, nearly 1,000 more than in 2024.
More than 60% of veterans who died by suicide had not received VA healthcare at any point in the two years before their death. That’s why VA has taken steps to enroll new veterans. So far in 2026, VA has enrolled more than 270,000 veterans into VA care.
Veterans Crisis Line
If you’re a veteran in crisis or concerned about one, contact the Veterans Crisis Line to receive 24/7, confidential support. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to connect. To reach responders, Dial 988 then Press 1, chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat, or text 838255.
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