How the VSPE Program Empowers Veteran-Serving Organizations to Save Lives
A veteran in crisis might not walk into a clinic, but they are more likely to show up at a community potluck hosted by a local Veteran-Serving Organization (VSO). In these trusted spaces, early signs of risk are recognized, support is offered and lives are quietly saved. Strategies like promoting healthy connections and creating protective environments are proven to reduce suicide risk, yet often go unmeasured.
Veteran suicide remains a serious national challenge, with veterans dying by suicide at a higher rate than the general population. In 2022 alone, 6,407 veterans died by suicide, an average of 18 per day, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Many factors can contribute to this crisis including trauma, social isolation, housing instability, unemployment and barriers to care.
Across the U.S., local VSOs are responding to these root causes every day. Whether through housing assistance, peer support, employment workshops or community gatherings, these trusted messengers are directly supporting veteran well-being.
Yet this critical work often goes unmeasured and unseen. Many VSOs lack the funding, expertise or time to evaluate their efforts. At the same time, evidence around what suicide prevention strategies work best for veterans is limited. Strengthening the evaluation capacity of VSOs helps build that evidence and direct resources to programs that make the greatest impact.
The Veteran Suicide Prevention Evaluation (VSPE) program was created in 2018 to meet this need. Initially a partnership between the CDC Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the Safe States Alliance joining in 2024, the VSPE program has worked with 24 VSOs nationwide. Drawing on seven years of experience, the program provides intensive technical assistance to help VSOs strengthen their evaluation skills, deepen partnerships and more effectively communicate their impact. The program is grounded in CDC’s Evaluation Framework, designed to be sustainable, scalable and responsive to the evolving needs of VSOs.
When Safe States Alliance joined as a partner in 2024, it brought a broad network and decades of expertise in injury and violence prevention. With Safe States Alliance's support, two VSOs—America’s Warrior Partnership (AWP) and Give an Hour (GAH)—are now implementing evidence-based suicide prevention strategies drawn directly from CDC’s Suicide Prevention Resource for Action. AWP is evaluating the impact of its AWP Network, a national coordination platform, which helps local organizations extend their reach by connecting them to national resources. GAH is designing and launching its Veteran Mile Program to improve mental wellness among veterans in the workforce by building mental health literacy and peer support among veterans.
With the new skills and tools gained through VSPE, touchpoints like a community potluck or a job training workshop are now being measured, improved and scaled. Across the board, VSOs report increased confidence in using data to guide decisions, improved systems to support ongoing evaluation and stronger relationships with funders and partners. While many were already collecting data, they’re now equipped to analyze it, act on it and communicate their impact. With more robust evidence, VSOs are emerging as trusted leaders in veteran suicide prevention.
To make evaluation more accessible to the wider VSO community, the VSPE program launched the VSPE Resource Hub, a growing collection of guidance, templates and resources for VSOs seeking to better understand and measure their work.
The VSPE program demonstrates what meaningful, sustainable suicide prevention looks like: building the capacity of trusted VSOs, supporting strategies that address root causes and making evaluation part of the everyday fabric of program work. Learn more about the VSPE Program and read its success stories.
