"Juntos" is Spanish for "together", and to collaborate is to work together for a common goal. The Juntos Collaborative is a group of adult education programs that share the goal of helping adults in Holyoke to get a free, high-quality education. The partners offer coordinated, comprehensive course sequences in Bilingual/Native Language Literacy, English ABE/ASE, and ESOL, along with counseling/referral services including college and vocational transition, to adult learners in Holyoke. We have been sharing an Adult Basic Education grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education since 1995.
The Juntos programs cooperate instead of competing with each other. Teachers from the different programs work together to improve our lesson plans and teaching skills. The program coordinators meet once a month to talk about how to make our programs as strong as we can. We share a common Advisory Board that helps us think about the best way to meet the needs of the adults who study with us and helps us work on long-term planning for adult education in Holyoke. Finally, every year we hold a large event called "Juntos Learner/Teacher Day" in which we bring together participants and staff from all of our programs to get to know each other and think together about a common theme.
The Holyoke Public Schools serves as the lead agency for Juntos.
Interested in tutoring? Learn about the Holyoke Tutor/Mentor Program.