The Juntos Program

cannot match. Think about what that does to the parent-child relationship. When the child has more knowledge than the parent, the roles are reversed. Juntos is a place where parents gain back their role as the parent and where the student can again be the child and not the one carrying the load of all the information. Juntos is a place where the intentional partnerships that grow among Extension, school systems, and community investors mean that Juntos families are not walking the journey alone.

Part 1: The Juntos Story

GO A L

North Carolina State University (NCSU) launched the Juntos Program in 2007, with a plan to provide high school Latinx students and their families with the knowledge, skills, and resources to ensure high school graduation and increase college access and attendance rates. High school Juntos graduates leave with a their own future plan and a toolbox for achieving their plan. Juntos comes from the Spanish word for “together” and exemplifies our theory that by brin ging schools together with students, families, and community members, we can alter the course of academic success for Latino students.

I N I T I A L N E E D S A S S E S S M E N T

Juntos surveyed 501 Latinx high schoolers from around the state attending the NCSHP’s 2008 Hispanic Educational Summit to discover why students

How Juntos started

VIDEO

were dropping out and what support they needed to make it to college and succeed there (Behnke, Gonzalez, & Cox, 2010). Juntos also conducted detailed focus groups, needs assessments, and community asset mapping activities in North Carolina. These assessments found that Latinx families’ most significant challenge was understanding and navigating the U.S. school system (Behnke, 2008). Since then, we have conducted focus groups with and surveys of low-income Latinx youth and parents to understand their needs and the best practices that support them academically. Today the program serves students in grades eight through twelve, as developers saw a need to start the program in middle school. Juntos has embraced collaboration as a way to bring Latino families to the center of the conversation about equity in education. Partners including National 4-H; USDA; local, state, and national foundations; various land-grant universities; and Cooperative Extension n etworks have invested in Juntos’ implementation, growth, and sustainability. The staff consists of two full-time positions: a senior director, who focuses on national growth and sustainability, and an assistant director, who steers the North Carolina program. This team is extended by more than 20 part-time, passionate staff who provide training, administrative support, curricula, coaching, evaluation, program implementation in North Carolina, and resources across our national network, while ensuring the sustainability of the North Carolina flagship program. The national growth adds to the number of professionals now focused on serving the Latino community through Juntos.