CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is awarding \$2,502,653 to six community organizations working to prevent suicide among veterans in Ohio, the Chillicothe VA Medical Center announced Tuesday.
The money is part of \$112 million the VA is distributing to 191 organizations nationwide through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program. The funds become available at the start of the 2027 fiscal year and are open to nonprofits, state and local governments, federally recognized tribes and other community groups that have demonstrated the ability to serve veterans, according to the VA.
“Community organizations play a vital role in strengthening the support network available to Ohio veterans,” Kenneth Mortimer, director of the Chillicothe VA Medical Center, said in a statement. “These grants provide veterans with lifesaving support and ensure they have access to the care and resources they deserve right here in our community.”
The VA has made suicide prevention its top clinical priority and offers same-day emergency mental health care access at all of its facilities, but reaching veterans before a crisis remains difficult, according to the agency. Of veterans who died by suicide in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, 61% had not received VA health care in the year before their death, the VA said. The Fox grant program is meant to close that gap by routing funding to community organizations that already have relationships with veterans outside the VA system.
The grants add to a broader push by the VA to expand suicide prevention outreach. Through Sept. 20 of this fiscal year, the agency said its Veterans Crisis Line answered more than 1.3 million calls, texts and chats from veterans in need, a 7.1% increase over the prior year.
Veterans in crisis can reach the Veterans Crisis Line by calling 988 and pressing 1, or by texting 838255.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Chillicothe VA Medical Center.
