Here Tomorrow received $2 million in state funding Friday morning, an award that will pay for a year of no-cost peer support for hundreds more people in Northeast Florida.
State Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, and state Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, presented the ceremonial check at the suicide prevention nonprofit's headquarters at 910 Third St.
The operating portion of the new funding alone will cover about 500 people, said President and CEO Terrie Andrews, or roughly the number of Beaches residents Here Tomorrow has served combined in its first five years.
Since opening in February 2021, the organization has supported 513 Beaches residents, counting both “friends,” its term for people experiencing hopelessness or suicidal thoughts, and family members worried about someone they love. The 500th Beaches resident enrolled as a friend on June 13.
Atlantic Beach accounts for the largest share among the three Beaches cities, with 165 residents supported from ZIP code 32233. Jacksonville Beach follows with 150 from 32250, and Neptune Beach with 88 from 32266.
The need is not unique to the Beaches. The five-county area Here Tomorrow serves recorded about 278 suicide deaths in 2024, according to Florida Department of Health data. The organization notes that the regional rate is generally comparable to Florida's average, but that the raw total across its service area exceeds that of all but three individual Florida counties.
Yarborough said the organization's speed is what sets it apart from a system where waiting is the norm.
“One of the most impressive things about Here Tomorrow is the fact that individuals who need help can get same-day service or attention and be able to talk to somebody,” he said. “And then with the outpatient services, that happens only over a few days' time. So it's a very quick response, and that's a critical need.”
“That's very important, because if somebody doesn't know where to turn, or if somebody doesn't already have services they're engaged with, they can call Here Tomorrow or come here and be able to get that attention they need right away.”
Duggan, R-Jacksonville, is finishing his term as speaker pro tempore of the Florida House, the chamber's second-ranking post, and chairs the Ways and Means Committee. He was more direct about where Here Tomorrow ranks among the requests that cross his desk.
“In my eight years of elected public service, I don't think I've seen an organization that is more impactful and a more important endeavor than this one,” Duggan said. “Their story is obviously moving in its origin, but the impact they're having is transformative. And there are so many people across all aspects of our community, all ages, all backgrounds, who struggle with these issues.”
He credited the peer model specifically. “They meet them where they are, and they meet them with peer support that the people who need help can relate to,” he said. “I feel fortunate to have been able to play a small role in helping them do this important work.”
The money continues a run of state support. Here Tomorrow received $750,000 in the 2024-25 budget and $1 million in 2025-26, both through Local Funding Initiative Requests sponsored by Yarborough and routed through the Department of Children and Families. Neither was vetoed.
Here Tomorrow pairs friends with trained certified recovery peer specialists who have their own lived experience with mental health crises. Support runs up to a year, at no cost and with no waiting list. Roughly a quarter of friends are also connected to therapy, Andrews said, meaning the remaining three-quarters are served through peer support alone.
That distinction drives the cost. A full year of service, including staffing, runs about $3,000 per person, against emergency room or psychiatric admissions that can cost multiples of that.
Andrews, a former Baptist Health psychologist, also pointed to readmission data the organization has begun tracking through its partnership with Baptist's adult psychiatric unit, where Here Tomorrow embeds peer specialists. The typical one-year rate of return to the hospital is about 40%, she said. Among Baptist patients who enrolled with Here Tomorrow, that figure is 18%.
“We're just grateful for the continued support by the state,” Andrews said. “These funds allow us to continue expanding into other regions of Northeast Florida.”
She said the money will also underwrite a statewide awareness campaign. About 1,000 friends have reached Here Tomorrow through referrals from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and the organization is in conversations with 988 operations elsewhere in Florida about similar arrangements.
Following the check presentation, Andrews led lawmakers through a youth program serving middle and high school students, a military veterans and first responders program, and a second-floor call center the organization is reconfiguring to add capacity. The adult program operates 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. weekends, including holidays. The youth program runs 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, scheduled so parents can bring children after work.
Interior spaces are built to look like living rooms, with lamps rather than overhead lighting, local artwork and plants. Andrews said the design is supported by research on reducing stigma in mental health settings. Artists connected to the organization donated several pieces on the walls, including work by Chase and Brooke Lawrence, the brother and sister-in-law of Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Founder and board chairman Joe Kenney has known the Lawrence family since Trevor Lawrence's high school years in Cartersville, Georgia.
The Jaguars connection extends into the stadium. Andrews said Here Tomorrow decals appeared on restroom mirrors last season, and the organization is working to place larger signage in bathroom stalls before preseason.
Duggan, speaking after the presentation, returned to Kenney, who founded the organization following the death of his son Gary in 2019 and opened its doors in February 2021.
“He comes across as so full of peace for the tragedy that he has suffered,” Duggan said. “He has such natural authority, just because you can tell he's suffered, but he is turning that suffering into impact. It gives him peace and meaning, and that comes across.”
If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text, 24 hours a day. Here Tomorrow offers same-day peer support at no cost during program hours.
