El Futuro awarded major financial gift by Blue Cross NC to improve access to mental health services in rural areas
El Futuro is one of the 11 organizations awarded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) to receive a major financial grant to improve access to behavioral health care services.
Through this investment, El Futuro will have the ability to strengthen its team of bilingual therapists and offer more mental health and substance use services to Latino families in Durham and North Carolina, including children, adolescents, adults and families. El Futuro’s focus on culturally sensitive mental health treatment seeks to reduce the stigma about mental health in the Latino community.
Luke Smith, El Futuro’s Executive Director says that “El Futuro is thrilled to be chosen for this funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield. Our state’s Latino families bring a wealth of strengths, assets, and vibrancy to our communities, but have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic both in terms of health and economics. The support from Blue Cross NC will allow us to provide more services to more people, strengthening our mission to nurture stronger familias to live out their dreams.”
Out of North Carolina’s 100 counties, 94 are considered mental health professional shortage areas and 61 have no child and adolescent psychiatrist. Nationally, NC ranks 38th in access to mental health care, and 51.9% of youth who experience a major depressive episode don’t receive the treatment they need.
At El Futuro, we are grateful to be part of this partnership with Blue Cross NC that will allow us to serve the population in need of mental and psychiatric treatment in a bilingual and culturally responsible environment.
Together, we are committed to improving the health and well-being of our community, and that starts with addressing whole-person care.
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