Lucia Radetzki
Community Mental Health Worker
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lucia has been interested in community health since her youth. She organized workshops in clinics and geriatrics in Neuquen, Argentina to promote preventive medicine, community health education and natural health, and she promoted cultural events to work with children in homelessness and families in high risk. Lucia went to college in UNA to earn her degree as theater professor in order to use dance programs and community theater as a tool for social change and trauma healing.
After that, she spent ten years living in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico were she worked with the Global Pediatric Alliance, particularly focusing on domestic and gender violence and community health issues such as HIV, transgenics and food sovereignty, using theater of the oppressed and natural health to share tools for physical, emotional and mental health with schools, churches and communities in Guatemala and Mexico. Lucia Radetzki, is a member of the international net of Theater of the Oppressed “Ma(g)dalenas”, she has also been a producer and announcer of the public radio in SCLC, Chiapas for 3 consecutive years, giving voice to community issues and advocating for women safety and mental health in one of the countries with worse indices of femicide in the world. She has also organized community events on a large scale in Argentina, Guatemala and Mexico, where she was able to serve as program coordinator of multi-site events, including one advocating for mental health and trauma recovery and addressing issues such as social anxiety, paranoia, depression, and addiction. She has also been involved with church ministry, in Oaxaca, Mexico, promoting the recovery from mental health struggles and addictions to alcohol and drugs for the homeless community. As a bilingual herbalist with more than 17 years of experience and a certified Health Coach from the Trinity School of Natural Health in the US, she has helped many individuals achieve better mental health and well-being through creative natural and holistic approaches. Her comprehensive understanding of emotional well-being and mental health, combined with her dedication to trauma-informed advocacy, have been determinant in her desire to be a member of El Futuro, an organization she has admired since the first time she heard about their meaningful work.
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