Havre Daily News: Grant funding available for local veteran mental health organizations

The Department of Veterans Affairs is now accepting application for the Staff Sgt. Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, which can provide health care organizations with increased mental health care funding from the federal government for suicide prevention programs.

The program was created under the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, introduced by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, who said he was proud to help connect veterans with life-saving community-based programs.

“Mental health is one of the biggest issues facing our country, our state, and our veterans,” Tester said in a press release. “ … These community-based programs are critical in our fight to end veteran suicide.”

The Hannon Act was named for a Montana veteran who lost his life to suicide, and was designed to boost access to mental health care for veterans and improve staffing for programs that provide it on the local level.

The Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program is a three-year community-based grant program to deliver financial assistance to organizations that provide or coordinate suicide prevention services for at-risk veterans and their families, the release said, and has had $52.2 million appropriated in 2023, including $2.15 million for Montana organizations.

The release says organizations can apply for up to $750,000 in grants, renewable by application on an annual basis.

Among those organizations that received funds was the Great Plains Veterans Service Center on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, which got $650,000.

Organizations interested in applying can do so at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/01/26/2024-01531/staff-sergeant-fox-suicide-prevention-grant-program-funding-opportunity, the release said.