Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) FY2027

Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) FY2027

Historical reference: the FY2027 application period is closed. The official VA program page gives the closing time as 4:59 p.m. Eastern Time on June 12, 2026. It does not publish a FY2028 Notice of Funding Opportunity or a new application deadline, so this page does not invent one.

The Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) is a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs grant program for organizations serving Veterans, eligible Service members, and their families. The FY2027 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) supported community-based suicide prevention services, with an emphasis on reaching people who may not be connected to VA care. The program is broader than a clinical treatment grant: it supports outreach, screening, peer support, case management, benefits navigation, education, and coordination with clinical and community resources.

This entry describes the FY2027 round as an archive record. VA published that round for services beginning on or after September 30, 2026. Applications opened on April 6, 2026 and had to be received by 4:59 p.m. Eastern Time on June 12, 2026. The deadline was firm. The VA program page now identifies the application period as closed and says awards will be announced in September 2026. Organizations should use the official page linked below for any future announcement rather than treating the archived FY2027 form as open.

FY2027 facts at a glance

The funding figures above come from the FY2027 NOFO. The total was an approximate planned allocation, not a guaranteed amount for every applicant. A new applicant could request no more than $750,000 per year. A satisfactory current grantee applying under Priority 1 could request an amount equal to or less than its current annualized award. VA planned to consider renewal applications before ranking new Priority 2 applications, and new awards depended on funds remaining after renewals.

What the program funded

The SSG Fox SPGP used a public-health approach to suicide prevention. Its purpose was to identify eligible people at risk, assess their needs, provide prevention services, and connect them with VA and community resources. The FY2027 NOFO required every grantee to provide baseline mental health screening for each eligible individual enrolled in services. VA supplied the screening tools, which included the PHQ-9, ISEL-12, Socio Economic Status tool, and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. Screening was completed at enrollment and again when services ended so that the program could assess change.

Allowable service areas included outreach to find and engage Veterans or Service members at elevated risk, education for families and communities, gatekeeper or lethal-means-safety education, case management, trained Veteran peer support, and help obtaining VA benefits. Grantees could also coordinate other public benefits and assistance for needs such as transportation, child care, food, housing, legal services, and personal financial planning when those supports were connected to suicide prevention. Family members could receive certain services when the eligible individual was enrolled.

The program was not a general mental health treatment grant. The NOFO allowed clinical services for emergency treatment, but it did not allow grant funds to pay for ongoing psychotherapy, psychiatry, or ordinary medical care. Applicants had to show that they could connect participants to appropriate emergency care and establish referral relationships with local VA facilities and community providers. The application therefore needed a credible handoff process, not just a promise to provide counseling.

For each enrolled participant, a grantee had to verify and document eligibility, assess suicide risk with the required tools, develop an individualized service plan in consultation with the participant, and document the services, duration, delivery method, and goals. The NOFO also required outcome evaluation. This made recordkeeping and referral coordination part of the service model rather than an administrative afterthought.

Who could apply

The FY2027 NOFO listed five applicant categories:

1. An incorporated private institution or foundation with a governing board responsible for operating the suicide prevention services, where net earnings do not benefit a member, founder, contributor, or individual.
2. A corporation wholly owned and controlled by an organization meeting the first category.
3. An Indian Tribe, including Alaska Natives.
4. A community-based organization that can demonstrate effective networking with local civic organizations, regional health systems, and other settings where eligible individuals and their families are likely to have contact.
5. A state or local government.

An organization relying only on the community-based organization category needed supporting documentation, including a letter on organizational letterhead describing how it met the networking and contact requirements. The NOFO also required documentation verifying the applicant’s entity type. A broad mission statement was not enough; the application had to show the organization’s legal status and its practical relationship to the people and systems it proposed to serve.

The intended participants were not simply anyone who identified as a Veteran. VA’s eligibility process covered certain Veterans and Service members who met the program’s military-service criteria and screening requirements, such as a lifetime history of suicide attempt or preparatory behavior, recent hospitalization for suicidality, recent suicidal thoughts, or significant psychosocial risk factors. Family members could participate in specified supporting services when the eligible individual was enrolled. Applicants needed to understand these distinctions before projecting the number of people they would serve.

FY2027 application process

The FY2027 application was not submitted through the ordinary Grants.gov portal. The NOFO directed applicants to the VA SSG Fox SPGP website for access to the electronic grants management system (eGMS), application instructions, and technical assistance. The Grants.gov record and downloadable NOFO were useful for reading the announcement, but the actual package had to follow the VA system instructions.

The preparation sequence for this closed round was:

1. Confirm the organization and participant fit. The applicant selected the correct eligible-entity category, documented its legal or community-networking basis, identified the geographic area to be served, and designed services for eligible participants under 38 C.F.R. Part 78.
2. Complete federal and VA registrations early. The organization needed an IRS Employer Identification Number, an active UEI and SAM.gov registration, and a VA Customer Engagement Portal submission of the VA-FSC Vendor File Request form. The information in the VA form had to align with SAM.gov, and proof of the vendor-file submission had to be uploaded. An inactive UEI or SAM registration could cause threshold rejection.
3. Choose the correct application path. Current grantees applied for renewal under Priority 1 and reported outcomes, cost effectiveness, compliance, and continuation details. New applicants applied under Priority 2 and supplied the initial-application materials. Renewal priority did not guarantee an award; satisfactory performance and compliance remained relevant.
4. Build the service and staffing plan. New applicants described the need, outreach and screening process, proposed services, staffing, service frequency, participant safety and confidentiality practices, goal development, implementation timeline, local VA coordination, and organizational capacity. They also described established area linkages and community partners.
5. Complete the VA budget template. The package required the VA-provided Excel budget template and a budget narrative explaining the line items. The requested amount had to fit the applicable award limit, and the financial plan had to show that the organization could operate the proposed program.
6. Attach the required files. New applicants needed an organizational chart, key-personnel resumes, hiring criteria for proposed staff, eligible-entity verification, vendor-file proof, and the completed budget template. The NOFO strongly preferred machine-readable PDF attachments unless another format was specified.
7. Submit one complete electronic package. The application had to be complete, internally consistent, and received by the firm deadline. Mail, hand delivery, fax, and separately arriving materials were not accepted as substitutes for the electronic submission. An incomplete application, missing budget template, missing active UEI, or proposal built mainly around unallowable clinical care could fail threshold review.

Because the FY2027 deadline has passed, these steps are preparation guidance for understanding the closed round and for responding to a later official announcement. They are not a current invitation to submit. A future cycle could change the portal, forms, dates, funding, or scoring requirements.

How VA evaluated new applications

The NOFO described five weighted areas for Priority 2 applicants. Background, qualifications, experience, and past performance accounted for 30 points. The program concept and suicide prevention services plan accounted for another 30 points. Quality assurance and evaluation were worth 15 points, financial capability and the financial plan were worth 15 points, and area linkages and relationships with government or private partners were worth 10 points.

That rubric favored an organization able to connect its proposed service sequence to existing local relationships. A competitive narrative needed to explain who would be reached, how risk and eligibility would be screened, what happens after a participant agrees to enroll, how referrals would be completed, and how results would be measured. It also needed to show that staff and partners could deliver the plan in the stated service area. A proposal centered on non-emergency clinical treatment, unsupported geographic expansion, or general awareness activity would not match the FY2027 requirements.

The initial application checklist also identified program indicators for the proposed project, including the number of eligible individuals served, the share of people not previously affiliated with VA, the share referred to VA, and improvement in at least one program-goal domain among eligible individuals who completed services. Applicants should have had a data collection plan capable of supporting those measures and the required pre- and post-service screening.

Historical reference and official links

The FY2027 opportunity is retained because its funding opportunity number, NOFO, eligibility framework, and application design remain useful background for organizations preparing for a possible later round. The official VA program page is the authoritative place to check whether a new SSG Fox SPGP announcement, application portal, or technical-assistance material has appeared. As of this page review, it describes the FY2027 period as closed and does not announce a FY2028 cycle.

• VA SSG Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program page
• FY2027 VA Notice of Funding Opportunity PDF
• Grants.gov FY2027 opportunity record
• Program contact: VASSGFoxGrants@va.gov

The VA page and the FY2027 NOFO should control any future refresh. Do not replace the closed deadline with a guessed date, and do not describe this archived page as accepting applications until VA publishes a new official cycle.