Juntos Mission: help Latino students and their families gain knowledge, skills, and resources to ensure high school graduation and broaden post-secondary career and academic opportunities.
North Carolina State University launched the Juntos Program in 2007. Juntos comes from the Spanish word for “together” and exemplifies our theory that by bringing schools together with students, families, and community partners, we can alter the course of academic success of students and advance our workforce potential. For the past 16 years, the NC State Juntos Office has provided leadership, training, coaching, and resources to extension professionals to support the implementation of the Juntos Program around the nation.
Today, Juntos is a collaborative Extension investment representing all national regions. To move this national program forward with a sustainable and scalable approach, the birth of the National Juntos Consortium (NJC) is necessary. The vision for NJC comes with a structure focused first on ensuring access to educational
opportunities while increasing youths’ academic potential and success, and embracing the lessons Extension and the overall community can learn from the families who make up the Juntos Program. NJC builds on the program’s culturally responsive practices to build professional development opportunities, provide coaching and training, monitor program fidelity, build partnerships and opportunities around program investment, and advance collaborative research and scholarship. NJC is committed to the land-grant mission to “provide readily available, research-based programs and educational resources to improve the lives of the individuals, families, and communities within states.”
NJC concurs with the USDA and National 4-H Council’s priority around equity, opportunity, accessibility, and workforce development/readiness. NJC will focus on engaging youth in STEM Agriscience education and careers.
The structure of the National Juntos Consortium is built on lessons learned from the past 16 years of serving the Juntos youth and families while managing national growth. The structure above identifies three core areas essential to the success of NJC:
Each University/organization investing in NJC must identify a Juntos Program Lead. This individual will represent the vision and priorities of each Juntos Program at a state and national level. It will be the Program Lead who will hold the responsibility of sharing all resources and information that comes from the National Juntos Office with Extension Professionals and partners who support the success of that state’s Juntos Program. The Program Lead will sit as an Executive Committee Member in the Consortium and vote during annual decision-making meetings. As needed, the Program Lead can identify individual(s) who directly impact their Juntos work to join as an Advisory Council Member. Before taking on this role, the Program Lead must complete the Juntos three-day training led by the National Juntos Office.
The National Juntos Office provides leadership, expertise, and structure for all Juntos product and service areas. This office is committed to ensuring all have a voice in selecting annual priority focus areas, building strong communication channels that support the national Juntos community, and ensuring inclusive and respectful decision-making with accountable and fair governance. This office will manage the bookkeeping of NJC and produce an annual fiscal report for executive committee members to approve.
The areas of focus support the growth, development, and fidelity of Juntos at a state and national level. The NJC Executive Committee will vote on annual priority areas, while the National Juntos Office will provide ongoing structure in all product and service areas.
$35K
All Associate and Affiliate level membership items
National Juntos office supports program evaluation and produces an annual report for the member’s state (optional)
The member can send up to 4 members to National training annually (2 per training)
Juntos Eval member join Eval Advisory Team
Juntos staff join publication projects
National Convening (2 seats) 2025
National presentation and publication opportunities
Research & Innovation grants (as annual budget allows)
Can join a collaborative evaluation process and choose to be under NC State’s Juntos IRB.
*Travel and per diem costs are not covered in training registration.
$25K
All Affiliate membership level items
Co-grant writing opportunities with the national Juntos office
The member can identify Juntos team members to be certified as a National Juntos trainer
Host a national training - includes 12 seats
Propose webinar PD topics to support the larger extension & education system
Selecting training topics to support PD
YEA Juntos RFA opportunity 2025
$15K
Monthly NJC updates, news, resources
Annual individual coaching call
Access to National Juntos Drive (Access to full manual and resources, updates, and revision)
Access to annual webinars to support PD within Juntos and the broader Extension and education community
Share grant and multistate grant-writing opportunities
Provide evaluation assessment tools
Collection of program data to produce a national impact report:
number of youth served by grade
senior graduation rates
number of Juntos sites
components delivered
provide post-youth and guardian/parent survey highlights
*training costs are not included at this membership level and hosting must be paid for by the host state. Current 3-day registration is $800 per person and does not include travel costs.
We want to help you see the immense value of joining the National Juntos Consortium. While it may seem like a financial commitment, we believe that the benefits far outweigh the costs. Below are reasons why joining the National Juntos Consortium is an investment that will ultimately benefit you and your university or organization.
By becoming a member, you gain access to enhanced and improved services in a timely manner.
Free or low-cost services often come with limitations, while our paid consortium membership allows us to offer you more comprehensive solutions, superior support, and a broader range of resources.
Being part of the National Juntos Consortium opens the door to valuable collaboration opportunities, such as grant writing. You’ll join a network of like-minded Juntos members, experts, and professionals who share your goals and interests.
This network lets you exchange ideas, best practices, and insights, leading to innovative solutions and potential partnerships that will benefit all Juntos Programs.
Our consortium is comprised of a team with years of Juntos experience who continually research and analyze trends, developments, and emerging challenges in the Latinx community
As a member, you’ll gain access to their expertise, reports, and insights that can help you make informed decisions. You will be able to share your expertise with others as well.
While there’s a cost to join, the consortium will result in cost savings in the long run.
By pooling resources and expertise with other members, we will increase production and reduce costs
As part of the Consortium, you’ll have a stronger voice in shaping Juntos programming. You will be an advocate for the Latinx community, helping to create a favorable environment.
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This influence can be invaluable, as it allows you to proactively address issues and steer developments in a direction that will benefit the Latinx community.
We are committed to continually improving our services, and your membership fees directly contribute to this process. Your input and feedback will help us refine and expand all aspects of the Juntos Program.
By investing in the National Juntos Consortium, you become an active participant in driving positive change and ensuring that the needs of the Latinx community are met.
Joining the National Juntos Consortium may require a shift in your mindset from free or low cost services to an investment-based model, but we firmly believe that the value you receive in return will far exceed your expectations. It’s not
just about the services you receive; it’s about the opportunities, expertise, and influence that come with being part of a dynamic community committed to the success of Juntos and the Latinx community. Your investment will yield dividends in growth, collaboration, and longterm success for all Juntos Programs.
*Current levels of membership will be offered until fiscal year July 2027 to give states time to write cost into their grants or to acquire funding streams. Levels were formed based on state requests. Expected level of membership in July 2027 will be a full membership.
All universities and/or organizations must provide a 5-year growth vision plan for Juntos (one page). Associate and Affiliate members must provide a summary of their Juntos evaluation structure (one page). The investment forecast is due with membership fees.
October -
February
Consortium invoices sent to every state based on selected membership
Juntos Leads follow-up with their leadership (Oct-Dec)
Program leads meet with Diana (Jan-Feb)
April 2024
June 2024
Next National Juntos Convening
Membership payment due
2025
Specific Products and services deliverable for Membership
All Membership Tiers
a. Access to program experts
b. Connections to collaborative publications
c. Provide leadership and structure for National Convenings
d. Provide structure for regional and national collaboration opportunities
e. Provide culturally responsive practice guidance to Extension professionals
Full and Associate membership
f. Provide Extension professionals advancement opportunities e.g., National trainer certification, publication, and presentations around Consortium work
g. Funding opportunities
h. Individual state coaching
National Training
All Membership Tiers
a. Access to two national training annually
b. Annual Juntos programming & related webinars
Full and Associate Memberships
c. Ability to host a national training with at least 12 seats provided to the host state
Full Membership
d. Four annual registration fees are covered for national training
All Membership Tiers
a. 4-year revisions to family workshop curriculum (high and middle school)
b. 4-year revisions on guides for Success Coaching, Juntos 4-H Club, Sustainability, Summer Academy, and Evaluation
c. Introduce innovative youth and family development curriculum/practices
from Extension to support Juntos (an opportunity for Extension/4-H professionals to showcase their work)
All Membership Tiers
a. Trademarked logo
b. National reach & impact report
c. Development of bilingual programming advertisement materials (e.g., marketing flyers, postcards, RSVP forms, social media posts, etc.)
d. Monthly email with program updates, news, and resources
e. National website
All Membership Tiers
a. Provide a structure for evaluation with streamlined assessment tools
Full Membership
b. Based on expertise, evaluation professionals from state Juntos teams will be invited to join the Eval Advisory Team
c. Annual reach and impact report on evaluation results
Optional
d. Full members can choose to be under the National Juntos Office IRB through NC State; the office will support the analyzed data and produce an individual state report
All Membership Tiers
a. Provide sustainability guide, to be updated every four years
b. Provide models of financial structures to support programming
c. Provide language and tools to support sustainability presentation with systems, stakeholders, and foundations
Full and Associate Membership
d. YEA Juntos RFA opportunity 2025
Full Membership
e. Research & Innovation Grants (as annual budget allows)
f. NJC’s future vision is to provide Research and Innovation Grants to Juntos states that are determined and dedicated to moving the Juntos work forward to benefit all implementing the program.
Full members can have three membership votes. One of these votes must be the Juntos Program Lead. Full members can choose to identify two other individuals who support Juntos programming to vote during the Annual Review Meeting and any other required voting.
Juntos National Consortium
Diana Urieta, MSW
Juntos Senior Director/Co-Developer
Juntos
Extension SpecialistNC State University
Campus Box 7301
Ph:(919) 515-3854
dmurieta@ncsu.edu
Juntos.dasa.ncsu.edu
In the “Effectiveness of working in consortia” aticle by the Institute of Development Studies find that social investment multi-stakeholder initiatives are more likely to be effective if: (1) the quality of leadership conforms with processes where differences in power are acknowledged and where inclusion and voluntarism of membership are respected; (2) local contexts and actors are recognized as the final arbiters of performance; (3) a common agenda is negotiated and not imposed; (4) mutual trust is gained and maintained; (5) (resource) commitments made are realistic and lived up to; (6) communication is open and fluid; and (7) there is accountable governance with rules of the game that are co-defined and fairly applied. Carter, B., (2017). Effectiveness of working in Consortia. Institute of Development Studies. 31.03.2017. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ba3785740f0b6071970c21f/067_Working_in_Consortia.pdf