Small team, huge impact

Tucked in the back of the Gunnison Congregational Church is a tiny organization with a huge impact. Juntos por Gunnison (Together for Gunnison) is a community resource center that connects Spanish-speaking immigrants with community resources through outreach, education, and cultural programming.

The Juntos team is made up of five passionate individuals: Director Marketa Zubkova, Project Manager Alfonso Morales, and Project Coordinators Mayte Burton, Yazmin Molina, and Cinthia Saenz.

Juntos has been an official organization for about two years, but its members' work supporting the Hispanic and Latino immigrant community goes back more than 20 years through volunteer service, community relationships, and partnerships with local organizations.

Juntos has built trust with immigrant community members by drawing on the team’s own knowledge and experience, as well as its understanding of cultural and language barriers. This familiarity helps people feel comfortable reaching out, sharing concerns, and asking for help.

“We are Latinos, we know the culture,” said project coordinator Mayte Burton. “It’s our job to provide help and familiarity to our community members.”

Juntos explained that it can be very overwhelming for immigrants to deal with the complex social, healthcare, legal, and community systems in the valley. The team connects people with the resources they need, including forms for schools and healthcare, protection from scams, and other support. They even held a session with an immigration lawyer where Spanish speakers could come for free to get advice and ask questions. Even if someone wants to come to the office for a cup of coffee and to talk about their day, Juntos is always willing to listen and help.

Juntos’ care for the community is its driving force and motivation for what it does. Juntos relies on team members' different skills and community partnerships to respond to individual needs. They described the impact as both practical and personal, helping people find the right resources while also creating a stronger sense of connection and support in the community.

“We all have our different skills,” said project coordinator Cinthia Saenz. “If I cannot help, someone else is always there.”

Juntos works diligently to bring people together through cultural and community events. They host a monthly cooking class called Charlas en la cocina, or “Chats in the kitchen,” where community members from different backgrounds teach others how to cook traditional dishes from their cultures. In September, they held a Colombian food night where they taught how to cook Colombian arepas and empanadas, served hot and cold drinks, and allowed the community to get to know each other over the joy of cooking together, which has long been one of the best kinds of connection.

They also hold Cafecito con las mujeres (coffee with the women). At this regular gathering, women can come together, build relationships, and support one another over a warm cup of coffee. They recently celebrated Mexico’s Independence Day.

Juntos was recently involved in Gunnison’s 5th annual Welcoming Week, where it hosted various events, including the Community Soccer Tournament at Katy O. Rady Field and the Diversity Walk along Main Street.

In the near future, Juntos is holding a Friendsgiving in November and a celebration to honor Saenz, who is receiving the 2026 Dr. Virgilio Licona Community Health Leadership Award on October 9 for her work as GVH’s first bilingual patient navigator and with Juntos.

Juntos’ focus for the future is to strengthen its existing programs, improve efficiency, and expand its outreach to support more people. Team members love the size of their team right now—the five-person full-time team and sometimes up to 25 volunteers—but would love to support even more people in the future.

Someday, they would love to have their own community center that provides culturally and linguistically responsive services, connections, and resources. It would be a place for parents, children, and other community members to come and strengthen their community. Until then, they continue to empower immigrants through education, justice, and leadership development, and work to facilitate stronger immigrant integration into the Gunnison Community.

“We do this because we love the community and we want to share with them,” said project manager Alfonso Morales. “It’s the passion we have to be here until sometimes midnight in the jail, in the hospital, in different spaces because we want to build a safe space for our community and our families.”