Campesinos Sin Fronteras Leaders Discuss Youth Programs Serving Somerton, San Luis

More than 1,500 young people, parents, and caregivers in south Yuma County connect each year with Campesinos Sin Fronteras through its 2THRIVE initiative, a federally backed adolescent health program that runs in schools, faith-based organizations, the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center, and even the county Juvenile Justice Center.

Laura Torres, CSF's Youth and Family Services Director, and Erik Luzanilla, the 2THRIVE program coordinator, laid out how those programs work during a 24-minute conversation on KAWC's "What's Up Yuma?" radio program on April 7, joining co-hosts Alexandra Rangel and Victor Calderón to explain services and how south-county families can get involved.

The 2THRIVE initiative was launched after CSF received a $985,999 annual grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs in June 2023, with an anticipated $5 million awarded over five years. The University of Arizona Prevention Research Center serves as an evaluating partner, and the evidence-based curriculum is designed to improve overall adolescent health while reducing teen pregnancy rates in Yuma County.

The program's flagship summer offering, the Summer Youth Leadership Institute, is hosted at the San Luis Cultural Center in partnership with the City of San Luis Parks and Recreation Department, a relationship that spans more than five years. CSF recently contributed $5,000 to that department to help sustain shared programming and park-based activities. Beyond the summer institute, 2THRIVE reaches students through Somerton and San Luis school sites, faith-based organizations, and the Juvenile Justice Center, offering mentoring, life-skills education, counseling referrals, and workforce-readiness support.

Torres has spoken about how intentional the program's reach must be in communities where many teenagers have rarely ventured beyond city limits. At a 2025 CSF youth conference at Arizona Western College that drew students from San Luis Middle School, Somerton Middle School, Southwest Junior High, Educational Opportunity Center Charter High School, and San Pasqual Valley High School, she reflected on what access to wider opportunity means to her students: "For a lot of these students, they've never even left San Luis, Arizona, so coming out to the main campus is a big deal for them. And so we just want to pr[ovide that]."

Families in Somerton and San Luis can contact CSF directly to learn about eligibility and enrollment. The Somerton office is located at 663 E. Main St. and can be reached at 928-627-5995. The San Luis office is at 720 N. Main St., Suite B, and takes calls at 928-627-1060. Both offices serve agricultural families and low-to-moderate-income households, and staff communicate in Spanish and English. Full program listings are available at campesinossinfronteras.com.

The April 7 KAWC episode remains available to stream for parents, volunteers, and community partners who want to hear Torres and Luzanilla describe specific enrollment steps and collaboration opportunities in their own words.