WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Pennsylvania organizations will receive $1.975 million in federal grants for veteran suicide prevention in fiscal 2027, including $750,000 for a Philadelphia-based organization serving veterans across the five-county Philadelphia region.
The Department of Veterans Affairs awarded $111.9 million to 191 community organizations nationwide through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program. Funding will become available at the start of fiscal 2027.
Veterans Multi-Service Center, Inc. will receive $750,000 to serve Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.
Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. will receive another $750,000 for services spanning 28 counties in western and central Pennsylvania, including Allegheny, Erie, Centre, Cambria, Butler and Westmoreland.
Penn Foundation Inc. was awarded $475,000 to serve Carbon and Schuylkill counties.
The grants are intended to extend suicide-prevention services beyond the VA health system, addressing a persistent challenge in reaching veterans who are not receiving care through the department.
About 61% of veterans who died by suicide in 2023, the most recent year cited by the VA, had not received VA health care during the final year of their lives.
“Community organizations are critical to reaching Veterans who may not otherwise connect with VA care,” VA Secretary Doug Collins stated. “VA’s Fox grant program often serves as a bridge between vital federal resources and vulnerable Veterans in need of help.”
The Fox program provides funding to nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, federally recognized tribes and other community organizations with demonstrated capacity to serve veterans.
The grants supplement the VA’s clinical suicide-prevention efforts by funding services delivered in communities where veterans live. VA health facilities also provide same-day access to emergency mental health care for veterans who need it.
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