SANFORD, N.C. - Central Carolina Community College has received a sub-award to partner with N.C. State University and the North Carolina Extension Service in Lee County to facilitate the YEA Juntos Program at Lee County High School.

CCCC will facilitate operation of the Juntos Program in partnership with Lee County Schools and N.C. Cooperative Extension in Lee County, funded by the sub-award grant. The sub-award is for $900,000 over a five-year period.

The grant allows for 60 students to participate in the program on an annual basis. Latinx students at Lee County High express interest in the program in order to join. Students must be a student at Lee County High School and be of Latinx descent.

Oscar Hernandez will serve as CCCC's YEA Juntos Program Coordinator. In this role, he will manage the program and help build the STEM Agriculture Pathways (AP) model, which will bridge students into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and agri-science programs at the college.

According to a N.C. State University news release, the NCSU Juntos program received a $7.8 million grant to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) participation, persistence and career readiness among Hispanic and Latino youth in the states of North Carolina and Washington. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Youth Innovators Empowering Agriculture Across America program.

The grant will fund a five-year project that draws from culturally responsive pedagogy, behavioral science theory and evidence-based practice used in the Juntos program to create a STEM Agriculture Pathways model to serve students beyond secondary education. The project also includes the formation of the National Juntos Consortium to support a replicable, scalable program that improves Latino youth representation in postsecondary education programs and advances diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility work within the Land Grant University Extension System.

"As a partner in the Juntos STEM Agriculture Pathways project, Central Carolina Community College looks forward to further engaging our Latinx community by providing programming and pathways leading to personal growth and development in STEM education," said Kevin Pearson, Dean of College Access Services for Central Carolina Community College. "The project will allow us to advance the skills and capabilities of our Latinx youth, increase their understanding of STEM-related pathways and prepare them for the high-quality career opportunities coming to our region."

For more information on the program, contact Mr. Pearson at kpearson@cccc.edu or call (919) 718-7386.

For more information on Central Carolina Community College - which is dedicated to providing pathways to achievable dreams, visit www.cccc.edu".