Dear Friends,
In times of stress, it is a sign of health to look for meaning. Meaning helps guide us when everything else may feel overwhelming. I was reminded of this recently when I watched Norma’s story in a short video that she developed with El Futuro. Norma is affectionately known as “the grandmother of the Latinos” in North Carolina due to her long history of public health advocacy for the community. In the video, Norma shares the powerful testimony of her father’s life as an immigrant and servant leader, and how she wishes El Futuro had been around to support him through his darkest days.
I think Norma’s story is one of the best representations of our work and reminds me of the meaning of why El Futuro exists.
As we come to the end of a very stressful year due to uncertain federal policies, Medicaid reductions, and anti-immigrant activity, I want to share this meaningful video with you and to invite you to make a donation of support to El Futuro before December 31st. Your donation will help us create community-owned, innovative, and effective responses that will strengthen many children and families.
As Norma says in the video, your support ensures that there is a place where Latino families live with joy and dignity and connection, supported by systems that reflect our values, our strengths, and our cultures. A place where papis and mamis and abuelos and hijos – all of us – can find care that speaks our language with cultural respect. That place is El Futuro.
And this year, your donation will do even more as we are donating 10% of our December donations to Norma’s ”Casa Abuelita” project, which provides mini-respite holidays for Latino parents of children and youth with special healthcare needs in North Carolina.
I think we all want to live in a community that cares for one another in times of stress and helps one another find meaning on the darkest of days. Thank you in advance for helping us bring that vision to life.
Luke Smith, MD
Executive Director and Psychiatrist
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