Warner, Kaine Announce $4 Million To Support Veteran Suicide Prevention Efforts Across Virginia

WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $4,144,835 in federal funding to strengthen veteran suicide prevention efforts across Virginia. The funding will support eight community organizations that connect veterans and their families to mental health resources, outreach programs, suicide prevention services, and other critical support.

The grants are being awarded through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, which was created by bipartisan legislation that Sen. Warner wrote and Sen. Kaine supported to expand prevention efforts and better connect veterans with resources available through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and local communities.

"Veterans deserve to know that help is there when they need it. It is our responsibility as lawmakers to make sure that those who have sacrificed for our country are not left to suffer silently and have the support and resources that they've earned and are owed," said the senators. "We're proud to have helped create this program, which is delivering critical resources to organizations on the ground working with veterans. These federal dollars will help expand lifesaving suicide prevention efforts and ensure more Virginia veterans and their families can get the support they've earned."

The Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program was created through the IMPROVE Wellbeing for Veterans Act, bipartisan legislation led by Sen. Warner in 2019 to improve the coordination of veteran mental health and suicide prevention services and to better measure the effectiveness of these programs. The legislation was signed into law as part of the broader Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, which passed the Senate unanimously in August 2020. In February 2025, Sen. Warner introduced bipartisan legislation to renew and expand the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program. In June 2025, Sen. Warner testified before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs to advocate for this program's extension.

The grant awards include:

• $750,000 for EveryMind, Inc. to serve regions including Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park.
• $750,000 for Volunteers of America Chesapeake to serve Arlington, Augusta, Chesterfield, Culpeper, Cumberland, Fairfax, Fauquier, King and Queen, King George, Loudoun, Prince William, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties, as well as the cities of Alexandria, Bristol, Chesapeake, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Hampton, Harrisonburg, Newport News, Norfolk, Norton, Staunton, Virginia Beach, Waynesboro, and Winchester.
• $750,000 for Blue Star Families Inc. to serve regions including the city of Norfolk.
• $725,000 for Boulder Crest Foundation to serve regions including Clarke, Frederick, and Loudoun counties.
• $512,053 for Westcare Kentucky Inc. to serve regions including Buchanan, Dickenson, and Wise counties.
• $357,782 for Mountain Valor Veteran Services to serve Patrick, Wythe, Floyd, Montgomery, Carroll, Pulaski, and Franklin counties, as well as the city of Radford.
• $200,000 for United States Veterans Initiative - U.S. VETS D.C. to serve regions including Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Prince William, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren counties.
• $100,000 for Western Tidewater Community Services Board to serve Accomack, Essex, Isle of Wight, King and Queen, Mathews, Middlesex, Northampton, Sussex, Southampton, and Washington counties, as well as the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg.

Sens. Warner and Kaine have long worked to improve high-quality health care and mental health services for Virginia's veterans. Earlier this year, the senators urged the administration to significantly boost funding for VA facilities, warning that years of underinvestment will increasingly leave Virginia veterans without the care access they've earned. In addition to his legislative efforts, Sen. Warner recently welcomed a new Chesapeake VA facility and has repeatedly met with senior leadership at the Richmond VA Medical Center and Hampton VA Medical Center to discuss suicide prevention and other issues affecting the local veteran community. Sen. Kaine has led legislation to protect veterans from housing discrimination and address homelessness and cosponsored legislation to improve veteran transition programs aimed at reducing veteran suicide. He has also been outspoken against the Trump-Vance administration's cuts at the VA and the mass layoffs of federal employees, which disproportionately affect veterans.

If you're a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one, contact the Veterans Crisis Line to receive 24/7, confidential support. You don't have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to connect. To reach responders, Dial 988 then Press 1, chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat, or text 838255.

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