The recently approved state budget includes more than a million dollars for the Veterans Justice Initiative program.
The nonprofit group works with police and first responders to help them work with veterans experiencing mental health problems.
Clark Pennington is the group's executive director.
“This funding, this continued funding in the budget, is going to absolutely bring, in my opinion, life-saving efforts to some of our veteran populations out there that might be in crisis, in training our law enforcement to really save lives and to de-escalate at the earliest point possible in the process," he said.
The Veterans Justice Initiative is one of dozens of nonprofits receiving grants from the budget.