How To Apply
All applications must be submitted through our online grant portal which offers a streamlined application process with one point of entry for all grant funding opportunities. BHS will award the Gary A. Darling Grant to one stand-out program or project that applies for a Targeted Grant: Alternatives and Interventions in Criminal Justice.
About Gary A. Darling
Gary Darling is a longtime community pillar whose professional life centered around the very same projects that are now being funded by the award that bears his name. Darling began his career with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, eventually working his way up to division commander, a role he held for 17 years, seven of which involved supervising the Larimer County Jail.
After leaving the sheriff’s office in 2007, Darling accepted a new position as Larimer County’s criminal justice planning manager and then in 2009, became director of the Larimer County Criminal Justice Alternatives Division, both new positions. In 2008, he began working to implement a behavioral health tax in Larimer County that would fund transformative work, like the Behavioral Health Services Impact Fund Grant Program. A decade later, his work bore fruit, and Larimer County voters approved a tax in 2018.
As a member of the Mental Health and Substance Use Alliance, he was involved in the first presentation to the Board of County Commissioners for a behavioral health facility for Larimer County in 2008. He also served as a member of the guidance team for the Behavioral Health ballot initiative which was approved by voters in 2018. Darling retired from the Criminal Justice Division in May 2020.
