He has served the Latino community since 1995 in the realm of youth development and access to higher education. In 2007, Dr. Behnke and Cintia Aguilar developed the “Juntos” program to help Latino families come together to make higher education a reality for Latino youth (JuntosNC.org). He conducts outreach efforts and applied research on academic achievement among Latino youth, military family programs, parent involvement in academics, couple and relationship education, dropout prevention and access to higher education. He has received funding for 16 projects in the last 7 years and has published 24 scholarly articles and multiple book chapters in the field. His life mission is helping Latino youth and their families access and thrive in higher education and beyond.