VA Awards $10 Million for Suicide Prevention Efforts

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded more than $10 million in grants to 18 community organizations that provide suicide prevention service to Veterans in California.

This funding is part of $112 million in grants awarded to 191 organizations nationwide to support suicide prevention efforts.

The funds are made available 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 life.

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 California Veterans,” said VA Central California Health Care System Executive Director Froy Garza. “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, visit http://www.va.gov/central-california-health-care.

In addition to the Fox grant program, VA is pursuing a range of suicide prevention efforts nationwide:

• In fiscal year 2026 through September 20, VA answered more than 1.3 million calls, chats and texts from Veterans in need through the Veterans Crisis Line, a 7.1% increase over the prior year, with a Veteran satisfaction rate of 97.3%.

• In 2018, the first Trump Administration launched RISK ID, a comprehensive suicide risk evaluation screening that helps VA flag and care for at-risk Veterans.

Through August, VA completed more than 5.5 million suicide risk screenings, approximately 100,000 more Veterans than were screened in 2025.