For the first time in four years, El Futuro’s Annual Benefit Luncheon brought together a room full of supporters to help imagine what optimal mental health would look like for the Latino community we serve.
On March 21, 2023, we opened the doors of the Durham Convention Center to welcome 330 community members, donors, and corporate sponsors for an hour of interactive programming. After lots of enthusiastic greetings, guests were invited to contribute their ideas to a giant word cloud asking “In an ideal community, what would be available to support optimal mental health?” (See photo below)
We then heard from Luke Smith, Executive Director of El Futuro, Deacon Luis Royo, Director of Hispanic Ministries at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Courtney Crawford, Therapist at El Futuro, and Luis Alvarez, El Futuro Board Co-Chair.
Courtney Crawford shared an especially powerful story of a client family finding healing together: “In some ways, as therapists, our job is to lend our imagination to our clients. Stress and crisis can negatively impact our ability to imagine. Psychologists throw around terms like “foreshortened future” and “hopelessness”. But in some ways, it’s a lack of imagination. Clients feeling so stuck in their trauma that they can’t imagine having a full night of sleep without being woken up by nightmares. Clients so impacted by depression that they can’t imagine ever laughing again. And yet, over my nine years at El Futuro, I have seen countless people “get better”, whether that means that they’re able to hold down a job, or have meaningful relationships, or leave the house without panicking. So I like to think that I have a “well-informed” imagination. It’s not just pie-in-the-sky. We’re imagining things that might feel out-of-reach at first, but they’re absolutely possible.”
We are very excited to keep imagining the future together and also grateful to our supporters. With your help and our sponsors – RTI International, Duke Health and UNC Health – $85,000 has already been raised to help more familias to seek optimal mental health. We extend our deep gratitude to everyone who made this possible.
“El Futuro dreams about not just responding with help during the crisis moments when depression and anxiety have taken root but also investing in the moments of gathering and togetherness – these times when we strengthen each other such as in school meetings, in iglesias and places of faith, or in quinceañera celebrations and fiestas. Our dream is of a community of healthy relationships” Executive Director, Luke Smith shared during his presentation.
Our Luncheon comes at a time when El Futuro’s services are needed more than ever. Many of our clients come to us fearing for their safety in the very communities they call home. Latinos often experience stress related to immigration, new culture, the pandemic and adapting to a new home — our clinics serve as a place of support for these familias. Every year we serve around 2,000 clients and 14,000 clinical sessions, with record numbers of clients continuing to come to see us for the first time.
Let’s keep imagining the future together
*In addition to raising funds for El Futuro’s services, the Luncheon was a wonderful event for bringing together so many people who are working to care for North Carolina families! Other highlights of the Luncheon were the toys that everyone got to play with, the inspiring “Imagine” video and of course, the mariachi! We hope you will consider working with the vendors that made the Luncheon such a success:
Mariachi Viva Mexico: www.mariachivivamexiconc.com/
AD Resources printing: www.adresourcesinc.com/
MedMedia Solutions signs and banners: medmediasolutions.com/
Durham Convention Center: www.durhamconventioncenter.com/
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