Overview
Across the country, new funding streams are opening up to strengthen behavioral health systems. While these opportunities are often designed with broad community mental health in mind, IDD agencies should be paying close attention. When states and counties invest in crisis response, residential treatment, and community-based support, providers that serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have a clear opportunity to align their services, expand offerings, and secure new contracts.
In this blog, we look at two recent examples of funding efforts in New Mexico and Colorado, and share practical strategies for agencies looking to prepare, apply, and build long-term sustainability through local partnerships.
What’s happening in New Mexico
On November 4, 2025, the New Mexico Health Care Authority announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for up to 26 million dollars to support behavioral health services across the state. The funding will focus on four key areas: building out residential treatment capacity, strengthening crisis response systems, supporting medication-assisted treatment for justice-involved individuals, and expanding services for prenatal and perinatal substance use disorders.
Applications are due by December 19, 2025, and awards will be announced in January 2026. This round of funding is intended to bridge immediate service gaps while regional plans are developed under New Mexico’s larger Behavioral Health Reform and Investment Act.
What happened in Colorado
In Colorado, behavioral health funding is increasingly driven by regional and county-level initiatives. In Boulder County, for example, local officials awarded nearly 8 million dollars to 27 nonprofits through the Community Partnership Grant program for services in 2025 and 2026. In addition, voters are considering a new sales tax (Issue 1B) that would fund mental and behavioral health services throughout the county.
For IDD providers, these efforts are reminders that funding is not limited to state Medicaid programs. Community-driven initiatives, ballot measures, and county human service departments are all potential sources of support.
Why this matters for agencies
These funding programs highlight a growing national focus on behavioral health, with a clear expectation that providers serving individuals with IDD may need to integrate or expand their mental health offerings. For agencies, this could mean enhancing residential programs to include clinical supports, forming partnerships with crisis teams, or aligning their services with regional behavioral health priorities.
Agencies that recognize these shifts early can position themselves to apply for new funding, strengthen their relevance within regional care systems, and sustain those programs beyond the grant period.
Finding and preparing funding
To get started, agencies should regularly review updates from their state behavioral health authority, Medicaid office, and local health departments. Pay close attention to Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs), Requests for Proposals (RFPs), and ballot measures that direct funding to community behavioral health.
Once an opportunity is identified, agencies should begin by mapping how their current services align with funding priorities such as crisis care, medication-assisted treatment, or prenatal mental health supports. They should also gather any existing data that speaks to regional service gaps or individual outcomes.
Partnerships can be a powerful asset during the application process. Agencies that collaborate with peer providers or community-based organizations often submit stronger proposals and are better equipped to meet broader system goals. Finally, having systems in place for documentation, billing, and outcome tracking is essential to show readiness and accountability.
Best practices for applications
Agencies that succeed in securing funding tend to act quickly and strategically. They often create one-page summaries that highlight their strengths, target populations, and how funding would expand or enhance services. They have data systems in place to track performance and demonstrate results. Their internal workflows are scalable, which means they can grow without sacrificing quality.
These agencies also stay connected with local authorities, behavioral health coalitions, and advocacy networks, ensuring that they are known and trusted within their region. Most importantly, they think beyond the grant period by planning for long-term sustainability and showing how new services will be maintained once the initial funding ends.
Giv and funding readiness
When new funding becomes available, the agencies best prepared to apply are those with strong systems already in place. Giv helps providers track services in real time, align documentation with ISP goals, monitor outcomes, and generate reports that meet the expectations of funders, auditors, and oversight bodies.
The Giv platform simplifies billing, connects behavioral health and IDD service documentation, and helps agencies respond quickly to new opportunities without having to rebuild internal systems. For agencies pursuing local, state, or federal behavioral health funding, Giv offers a reliable foundation to grow from, and a clear way to demonstrate readiness and impact. Explore our product here.
