To better support outside organizations working with at-risk veterans, VA launched the Mission Daybreak grand challenge in 2022 to award $20 million to groups pursuing innovative solutions to the veteran suicide crisis.
According to Dr. Amanda Lienau, Director of Data and Analytics Innovation for VA, the challenge evolved out of the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS) Task Force, created by the Trump Administration in 2019 to take “a holistic, all-hands-on-deck” approach to suicide prevention.
The challenge received more than 1,371 submissions with ten organizations named grand challenge winners One of Mission Daybreaks first-place grand challenge winners, “Stop Soldier Suicide,” was awarded $3 million for its Black Box project, which uses AI to extract and analyze data from the devices of veterans who died by suicide. The goal was to better identify retired service members who would be at substantial risk of self-harm.
VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz, who rejoined the Department in January 2025 during major changes in the new Administration, said that organizations that received Fox grants “have made more than 24,400 referrals for suicide prevention supports, including life-saving emergency service connections for 854 veterans at high risk for suicide.” However, he qualified, even as VA programs have helped to support outside groups working to provide mental health assistance to retired service members, veteran suicide rates continue to remain stubbornly high.
VA Secretary Doug Collins has told lawmakers that he is looking at pursuing “a fresh, new approach” to suicide prevention, noting that Department funding of suicide prevention outreach has increased by more than 11,000 percent—from $4.4 million per year in 2008 to $522 million per year in 2022—despite the fact that the number of veterans who have died by suicide remained flat over that same period.
The Early Alert initiative, part of Mission Daybreak, is perhaps the most relevant and effective aspect of the program for blind and low vision veterans. It uses automated, low-pressure wellness checks via text message to build trust with non-VHA-connected veterans and to link them to VA services. The tool provides personalized responses and immediate referrals to strengthen coordination.
