20th Anniversary Benefit Luncheon
April 26, 2024 / 12-1pm at Durham Convention Center
Join us to reflect on and celebrate 20 years of impact nurturing stronger familias.
El Futuro has been hosting annual Benevon-model luncheons since 2013 (with a short hiatus during the pandemic), and it is the main way that most of our 3,000+ supporters have learned about our work. In 2024, we will host our 9th luncheon with the objectives to attract new supporters and to raise funds to carry out our mission to nurture stronger familias to live out their dreams.
This year’s theme will be about El Futuro’s 20 years of impact since its founding in 2004. Only one in two non-profits are generally able to sustain their impact for more than a decade and El Futuro is now beginning its third decade of mission-driven service. The luncheon will provide some retrospectives about El Futuro’s early days, but it will also be the launch of our brand new 2024 video about El Futuro’s work, which is being produced by Victoria Bouloubasis and team. As always, the Luncheon provides El Futuro with an in-person opportunity to convey its impact, credibility, trustworthiness, and capacity to meet a need that grows in the Latino community every day. The work that El Futuro has done for 20 years has brought credibility to what we do and the way we do it.
Sponsor the Luncheon
Help maximize resources for El Futuro’s mission by underwriting the event and see your company or family’s name on our event materials. Sponsorship levels go from $500-$5,000. For more information, email Mary Coffman at mcoffman@elfuturo-nc.org
Be a Table Captain
Sign up to be one of our beloved “Table Captains” and fill a table of 8-10 guests (including yourself). The Luncheon is 100% free, but our hope is that your guests will have a heart to support mental health services for familias. You will have a chance to connect with our other Table Captains and Executive Director on a pre-event zoom call, see your name on our event program and feel our deep gratitude for your support, and ensure your place at the event before we open reservations up to the rest of the community! Download the info sheet below and/or email Mary Coffman if you are interested: mcoffman@elfuturo-nc.org
Join us on April 26th in person
Tickets open to the public on April 1. Check back on this page to reserve your ticket. We hope to see you there!
Help El Futuro raise $100,000 for culturally responsive mental health treatment this April 26th!
Alvely Alcántara, LCSW
Rossy C. Garcia, MEd 
Katy Sims, MD 
Everardo Aviles, LCSW, LCAS (Eve)
As a medical anthropologist and social work researcher, Dr. Gulbas’ research embodies interdisciplinarity through the integration of applied theories of health and human development with qualitative and ethnographic methodologies. Her work seeks to understand how people—children, families, and providers—navigate complex sociocultural landscapes in the pursuit of mental health. Most of her work, to date, focuses attention on developing more robust interpretations of suicide risk. With funding from the National Institutes of Mental Health, this body of research has contributed to advancements in theoretical and empirical knowledge of the broader contexts within which youth suicide risk is situated. 
R. Gabriela Barajas-Gonzalez is a developmental psychologist and an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Barajas-Gonzalez is the principal investigator of a study that examines the impact of immigration-related threat and stress on school communities. She earned a PhD in developmental psychology from Columbia University and hold a BA in human biology from Stanford University. Dr. Barajas-Gonzalez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a first gen college student.
Dr. Parra-Cardona is an Associate Professor in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (SHSSW) at the University of Texas at Austin. At the SHSSW, he serves as Coordinator for Mexico and Latin American initiatives. He also serves as Area Director for Research at the UT Austin Latino Research Institute. Dr. Parra-Cardona’s program of research is focused on the cultural adaptation of evidence-based parenting interventions for low-income Latinx populations in the US and Latin America.
Bianka Reese, PhD, MSPH is a research scientist and program evaluator specializing in adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health. Her previous research in the experiences of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth stems from her work as the Research and Evaluation Manager at SHIFT NC (Sexual Initiatives For Teens), where she led largescale evaluations of multilevel, community-based sexual health promotion initiatives and research projects aimed at elevating the voices of diverse youth in North Carolina. Dr. Reese is currently the Senior Research Strategist at Creative Research Solutions, LLC, an award-winning national evaluation, research, and assessment firm.
Tania Connaughton-Espino, MPH is an independent researcher focused on adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health. Her interest in the experiences of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth stems from her previous work with SHIFT NC (Sexual Initiatives For Teens), where she led the training and evaluation department, conducted capacity-building workshops for youth serving professionals including on the topic of how to be more affirming of LGBTQ youth, and from her extensive experience working with the Latinx population in NC.
Maru Gonzalez, EdD is an Assistant Professor and Youth Development Specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University. Her areas of inquiry include youth development with a focus on activism, social justice, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ young people across familial, school, and community contexts. 
Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas, PhD
Hector Y. Adames, PsyD