For Mayank Mishra, preventing veteran suicides starts with improving internet access.

“Instead of just saying, ‘Here’s an app that can help,’ we have to make sure the digital infrastructure is there,” said Mishra, co-founder of Televeda, an Arizona-based firm focused on ways to prevent social isolation in vulnerable communities “Being able to access care is just as important as the mental health care itself.”

Televeda’s Project Hózhó, which is focused on bringing broadband services and culturally relevant mental health support to Native American reservations in the southwest United States, was recognized Thursday as one of two first-place winners of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ Mission Daybreak challenge.

The prize brings with it $3 million in funding for the project’s suicide prevention efforts, money that Mishra said will be immediately invested into infrastructure and mental health assistance work already underway.

Read more about all the winners of the Mission Daybreak Challenge here.

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