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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 89 / Tuesday, May 11, 2021 / Notices assistance to eligible entities to provide or coordinate providing suicide prevention services to eligible Veterans and their families. VA is required to consult with certain entities related to administering this new grant program.
VA previously published a request for information on April 1, 2021, seeking written comments from these entities to help inform VAs development of the SSG Fox SPGP and its implementing regulations. These public virtual listening sessions serve as additional means for VA to consult with these same entities.
DATES: VA will hold the first public virtual listening session on May 25, 2021, and the second public virtual listening session on May 26, 2021. Each meeting will start at 10:00 a.m. and conclude on or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time EST. There will be limited space for participants to speak at the public virtual listening sessions. To accommodate as many speakers as possible, participants will have no more than 20 minutes to provide oral comments, testimonies and/or technical remarks. More concise contributions are also welcome. The exact time allotted will vary based on the number of participants registered and selected to speak.
The sessions will be held virtually as a WebEx Event, and it will be open to the public to listen. Information about the meeting and registration to speak or listen can be obtained by emailing VASSGFoxGrants@va.gov.
Virtual attendance will be limited to 1,000 registrants. Advanced registration for individuals and groups is strongly encouraged see registration instructions below. Individuals or groups who seek to speak must pre-register by May 19, 2021, at 4:00 p.m. EST. Speakers must virtually check-in between 9:00 a.m.
and 9:45 a.m. EST to test their WebEx access and resolve any platform issues.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Juliana Hallows, Associate Director for Policy and PlanningSuicide Prevention Program, Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention OMHSP, 11MHSP, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420, 2022664653. This is not a toll-free telephone number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background Section 201 of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019 the Act, Public Law 116171, enacted on October 17, 2020, requires VA to create a new community-based suicide prevention grant program to reduce
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Veteran suicide. Section 201 authorizes the award of grants for no more than $750,000 per grantee per fiscal year to eligible entities to provide or coordinate providing suicide prevention services to eligible individuals and their families.
An eligible individual is a person at risk of suicide who is a Veteran as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101, an individual described in 38 U.S.C. 1720Ib or an individual described in 38 U.S.C.
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Consultation With Interested Parties In administering the SSG Fox SPGP, VA is required to consult with certain entities to:
1. Establish the criteria for selecting eligible entities that have submitted applications;
2. Develop a framework for collecting and sharing information about eligible entities receiving grants; and 3. Develop the measures and metrics eligible entities receiving grants will use to determine the effectiveness of programming provided to improve mental health status, well-being and reduce suicide risk and deaths by suicide.
VA is also required to consult with entities in developing a plan for the design and implementing the provision of grants, including criteria for awarding such grants, and on non-traditional and innovative approaches and treatment practices. The Act requires VA to specifically consult with the following entities: 1 Veterans Service Organizations; 2 National organizations representing potential community partners in providing supportive services to address the needs of Veterans and their families, including national organizations that advocate for the needs of individuals with or at risk of behavioral health conditions as well as national organizations representing mayors, unions, first responders, chiefs of police and sheriffs, governors, a territory of the United States or representing a Tribal alliance; 3
National organizations representing members of the Armed Forces; 4
National organizations representing counties; 5 Organizations with which VA has a current memorandum of agreement or understanding related to mental health or suicide prevention; 6
State Departments of Veterans Affairs;
7 National organizations representing members of the Reserve Components of the Armed Forces; 8 National organizations representing members of the Coast Guard; 9 Organizations, including institutions of higher education, with experience in creating measurement tools for purposes of advising the Secretary on the most
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appropriate existing measurement tool or protocol for VA to utilize; 10 The National Alliance on Mental Illness; 11
a labor organization as such term is defined in 5 U.S.C. 7103a4; 12 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and PREVENTS; and 13 Such other organizations as the Secretary deems appropriate.
On April 1, 2021, VA published a request for information in the Federal Register seeking input from these groups and entities. See 86 FR 17268.
These public virtual listening sessions serve as an additional means for VA to consult with these entities. Responses will be used to inform development of the SSG Fox SPGP and its implementing regulations. Oral comment, testimonies and technical remarks are encouraged to be concise and directed toward specific virtual public listening session topics.
Please note that VA will not respond to comments or other questions regarding policy plans, decisions or issues regarding this notice.
Comments received in response to this notice will be evaluated and, as appropriate, incorporated into a proposed rulemaking for grants under this law.
Registration Individual registration: VA
encourages individual registrations for those not affiliated with or representing a group, association or organization.
Group registration: Identification of the name of the group, association or organization should be indicated in your registration request. Due to virtual platform meeting limitations of WebEx and the statutory mandate that VA
consult with certain entities, VA may select certain entities to speak or may limit the size of a groups registration to allow receipt of testimonies and/or technical remarks from a broad, diverse group of stakeholders. Oral comments, testimonies and/or technical remarks may be limited from a group, association or organization to no more than two 2 individuals representing the same group, association or organization. Efforts will be made to accommodate all attendees who wish to participate. However, VA will give priority to representatives of the stakeholders enumerated in the statute who request registration before May 19, 2021, 4:00 p.m. EST, and wish to provide oral comments, testimonies and/or technical remarks. The length of time allotted for participants to provide oral comments, testimonies and/or technical remarks during the meeting will be no more than 20 minutes and is
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