WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, advocated reauthorization of the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program and noted the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) backing at a committee hearing on enhancing outreach to support veterans' mental health. The Fox Grant Program, which he authored alongside Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and is currently scheduled to sunset in 2025, provides essential funding for mental health outreach and suicide prevention in veteran communities.

“This program was created out of a dire need to improve community-based resources to address the veteran suicide crisis,” said Boozman. “Veterans who battle mental health challenges respond best to support from those they know and trust, a need this program is critical in meeting.”

Boozman questioned Thomas O’Toole, M.D., Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Health for Clinical Services and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the VA, on the program’s established success and the critical importance of funding reauthorization. In O’Toole’s exchange with the senator, he agreed the program’s emphasis on identifying and reaching out to veterans struggling as well as coordinating with veteran families and communities is crucial to saving lives.

“Grantees are able to effectively engage specific population groups that may be at higher risk for suicide,” O’Toole said about the potential for extending and expanding the number of organizations receiving Fox Grant Program funds. “That is our hope and aspiration.”

Boozman also pressed the VA official on the aspects that have made it a success and its future prospects.

“These community groups have credibility in the communities where veterans live. These are peers. These are organizations that are engaging veterans’ families,” O’Toole said. “The wrap-around and holistic approach is complimentary to what VA does.” 

Click here to view Boozman’s exchange with O’Toole.

The Boozman-Warner reauthorization legislation, introduced earlier this year, would:

• Reauthorize the Fox Grant Program until Sept. 30, 2028, and increase the total authorized funding for the grant program from $174 million to $285 million;
• Expand the maximum potential award from $750,000 to $1.25 million;
• Direct the VA to collect additional measures and metrics on outcomes to better serve veterans; and
• Require annual briefings for VA medical personnel to improve awareness of the program and increase coordination with providers.

The program is named in honor of Parker Gordon Fox, a veteran and former sniper instructor at the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, who died by suicide on July 21, 2020, at the age of 25.

Click here for full bill text.