During the Forum at St. Thomas More Catholic Church organized by Justice United and the North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations, which took place on Thursday, May 18, Alliance Health announced that $500,000 is being invested in improving access to mental health services for Spanish-speaking residents in Orange County.
At El Futuro, we know the high demand for these services in the Latino community and continue to provide easily accessible opportunities to address this need. One of these measures is the walk-in clinic for new clients at both Durham and Siler City locations.
Thanks to the partnership with Alliance Health, new opportunities will open to provide mental health services to the residents of Orange County. We are honored to be part of this work to advance projects that benefit our community.
“We’re so grateful for the partnership from Alliance Health in building capacity to provide more culturally-responsive mental health services for Orange County Latino residents. Their partnership will not only help recruit and retain qualified, bilingual personnel, but will also help expand community-engaged services through the work of Spanish-Speaking Community Mental Health Workers, who can help increase mental health promotion, awareness, prevention, and positive outcomes.” -Kerry Brock, Associate Director at El Futuro.
Today, El Futuro therapists continue to serve clients in this county after we were forced to close the Carrboro office due to lack of funding. “Today we continue to serve our clients in this county virtually, thanks to the help of Alliance Health,” says Luke Smith, El Futuro’s Executive Director.
Luke also shared that “there is a high turnover rate in the mental health workforce, which is due to the high level of stress generated by offering services to people who have high rates of trauma and complex social/mental health problems, and also to low reimbursement rates for services.” The support pledged from Alliance will help to adequately reimburse this important work by therapists and will support new areas of service by Spanish-Speaking Community Mental Health Workers.
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