The Butler County Community Health Consortium will receive $649,427 in federal funding to help prevent veteran suicides in Butler and Montgomery counties.
The grant is part of $2.5 million the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded to Ohio community organizations through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program. Nationwide, the VA sent $112 million to 191 organizations. The funds are set to become available Oct. 1, the start of federal fiscal year 2027, WCPO reported.
The program targets a stark gap. In 2023, the most recent year with available data, 61% of veterans who died by suicide had not received VA health care in their last year of life, according to the VA. The Fox grants send money to community groups already working where veterans live.
Lisa Liston, suicide prevention program manager at the Cincinnati VA, told WCPO that caseloads have surged over the past decade. What was once about 25 cases a month is now closer to 100, she said.
"You don't have to be in crisis to decide you're going to go to the VA or you're going to seek out help," Liston said. "We really encourage you to get involved before you have a crisis."
The Consortium is one of at least five Ohio organizations sharing the $2.5 million. Spectrum News listed five recipients on Sept. 30; WCPO reported six on Oct. 27. The other recipients include McBride Pathways for Veterans, which received $500,465 and serves veterans in Butler, Hamilton and Warren counties.
Cincinnati VA Medical Center Executive Director Zachary Sage said in a VA news release that community organizations strengthen the support network for Ohio veterans, according to the Warren County Post.
Nationally, about 17,000 veterans, service members and family members received services through Fox grant recipients in 2025, a 31% increase from 2024, according to the VA. Grant-funded organizations connected 344 at-risk veterans with emergency mental health care that year. They also linked 2,647 veterans who had never used VA services to care and resources.
The Consortium serves Butler and Montgomery counties, but details on how it plans to deploy the $649,427 locally have not been released.
Liston told WCPO that support through the grants can range from peer connection to routine screening. The VA wants every veteran screened for suicide risk at least once a year, she said.
Veterans in crisis can reach the Veterans Crisis Line 24 hours a day by calling 988 and pressing 1, texting 838255, or visiting VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat. Enrollment in VA benefits or health care is not required.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
