The Juntos Program Juntos para una mejor educación a

Invisible Jane Medina If I stay very still And breath very quietly, The Magic happens: I disappear - and no one sees me - and no one hears me - and no one even thinks about me And the teacher won’t call on me It’s very safe being invisible. I’m perfect I can’t make mistakes - a least nobody sees them, so nobody laughs.

What is the Juntos Program? A program that helps youth and parents gain the knowledge and skills needed to bridge the gap from high school to higher education for 8-12th grade youth Diana

NC Juntos Team: Diana Urieta, Cintia Aguilar, and Andrew Behnke Started in 2007 at NCSU with the Family Engagement workshops curriculum Responds to the need to unify schools, families, and community efforts to prevent school dropouts and promote students access to higher education and parental involvement. - Juntos is based on the belief that it takes the families, schools, and community to work together to achieve Latino student’s educational success. Juntos is driven by the needs of our families and their communities and it’s our goal to recognize and respect the specific characteristics and needs of this population Started under the model Extension

Mission The Mission of the Juntos Program is help students achieve high school graduation and access higher education. Diana

Juntos Program Provides Parent/Family Involvement – 6 week workshops for High School and 5-week workshop for Middle School and ongoing family nights Afterschool 4-H Clubs – Academic Success, Community Service, Public Speaking, Leadership Development, Soccer/ Dance Success Coaching & Mentoring – Juntos staff who provide one-on-one academic success and connect Juntos students to adults, college student, and peer mentors Summer Programing – Juntos Summer Academy at NC State University and more (4-H summer programing) Diana

Where is Juntos? Diana

Juntos North Carolina Map List of counties not grant funded: Tyrrell Alexander Catawba Lenoir Orange List of counties served with grant funding: Forsyth Yadkin Johnston Wake Durham Sampson Wayne Diana

Nationally: Iowa Oklahoma Oregon New York Texas Diana

Why Juntos? Andrew

Annual Percent Growth 1990-2013 What is the percentage of growth for Latinos/Hispanics in the USA, NC, Texas, NY? 1990 (% Total Pop) 2013 Annual Percent Growth 1990-2013 United States 22,400,000 (9%) 54,071,370 (17.2%) 6.15% North Carolina 76,726 (1.2%) 872,805 (8.9%) 45.11% Texas 4,339,900 (25.5%) 9,460,921 (37.6%) 2.993% New York 2,214,026 (12.3%) 3,416,922 (17.6%) .543% http://oregoneconomicanalysis.com/2010/09/22/hispanic-heritage-month-a-statistical-profile-of-oregon/ Census 1990 and 2010, Available at census.gov. Percent increase is amount of increase / original amount (present-past/past). http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-3.pdf Andrew

Dropout Rates in the US Latinos Blacks Whites Andrew

Only 3 out of 100 college students in North Carolina are Latino Andrew

Many Latino parents are not sure how to be involved in their child’s education Andrew

Juntos and 4-H Are only one component of Juntos Juntos 4-H Clubs Are only one component of Juntos Are not traditional clubs Are a mixture of Community and School Based Clubs Are supported by paid Juntos Coordinators Diana

Juntos Program Cultural Norms Building relationships with both youth and parents Communicating in Spanish – promote bilingualism Personal Contact & Care (personalismo) Don’t assume, ask, educate, and learn together Holding their hand while empowering them Juntos is a verb not a noun! 4. Ask – families if this know what is a club, Ask the partners what they know about the Latino community 5. Ex. Staff in NC asking why do we have to call them, Empower parents to be responsible for their actions “being on time” learning and following the rules – school attendance

Juntos Program Cultural Norms Be a role model – ¡Cumple tu palabra! Be flexible Be aware of diversity within Latino Culture Be a team player Be resourceful

Questions, comments?