Juntos 4-H
Juntos 4‑H is a program that helps Latino youth (grades 8 – 12) and their families gain the knowledge and skills they need to bridge the gap between high school and higher education. The program was first developed by North Carolina State University in 2007 as the Juntos program, and became Juntos 4‑H in 2015 when the university developed a partnership with National 4‑H Council with financial support from New York Life Foundation. This assisted the program to grow in both size and sustainability.
About Juntos 4-H
Juntos 4‑H, which translates to “together,” provides students and families with:
- Family engagement: high school and middle school workshops, family nights and events
- Juntos 4‑H Clubs: focused on academics, tutoring, life-skill activities, and community service
- Juntos One-On-One Success Coaching/Mentoring: adults help youth achieve their goals
- Summer Programs: Summer Academy, local 4‑H summer programs and other local events. Programs are available to English and Spanish-speaking students and their families in numerous communities across the US.
Check out the video of Texas 4‑H’er and New York Life-supported Juntos 4‑H member David who joined NASA Astronaut Jose Hernandez for an exciting ‘Day in the Life’ STEM experience.
Program goals and outcomes
Juntos 4‑H has three goals:
- See more Latino youth benefit from 4‑H programming
- Build relationships with Latino communities so they benefit and become involved in 4‑H and other Extension programming
- Empower Latino families with the resources needed to achieve their educational goals for their youth.
As a result of participating in Juntos 4‑H, students report a greater sense of belonging and confidence in their futures:
...feel like they now belong in school.
...feel that Juntos helped them belong at school.
...improved their grades in school.
...feel confident that they will graduate from high school.
The MY FINANCIAL FUTURE curriculum is a great complement to the Juntos program and focuses on financial literacy.
Juntos 4-H featured in the news
Juntos 4‑H featured in AgriLife Today
AgriLife Today featured a story for a Juntos 4‑H club in San Antonio, TX and its National Day of Service project, Kid-lympics Games.
Juntos 4-H
Latino youth outreach toolkit
The 4‑H Latino Youth Outreach: Best Practices Toolkit is a guide to help 4‑H Cooperative Extension professionals become active catalysts and change agents for engaging Latino youth in 4‑H high-quality positive youth development programs.
