Frank Cohn, Founder and Executive Director, Globalhood

Sarah Gogel, Deputy Director, YouthActionNet® Global Fellow

Ms. Sarah Gogel, LMSW, is Deputy Director for Global Potential and former Development Coordinator and Clinician at PARTNERS program, St. John’s University. She holds her A.B. in Sociology from Harvard College and a Masters in Social Work from Wurzweiler School of Social Work. She has in-depth experience working with diverse at-risk populations, specifically with trauma survivors, youth, the elderly and migrants. Ms. Gogel has worked for eight years in the fields of development, advocacy and human rights in international and national organizations-from corporations like l’Oréal Recherche in France to non-profits like Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, and the International Institute of New Jersey. Originally from Paris, France, Ms. Gogel is a native French speaker, is fluent in English and Spanish, and speaks Hindi and Urdu. She has worked with multiethnic and multicultural populations in India, Israel, Nicaragua, France and the United States. In 2007, she won the Diversity and Ageing award from AARP for her thesis on social isolation among the elderly in France. Ms. Gogel is a Disaster Mental Health Worker for the American Red Cross of Greater New York and represents an NGO at the United Nations in NY headquarters.

Sarah Jane Gluck, 2009-2010 We Are All Brooklyn Fellow

Sarah Jane Gluck recently graduated with a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University, specializing in non-profit management and international social welfare. Sarah was a part of Global Potential’s 2008 Pilot Program in Batey 8, Dominican Republic where she worked as a Program Coordinator. She has continued to work with Global Potential throughout the 2008-2009 school year as a part of her fieldwork with the Columbia School of Social Work. In her first year of graduate school, Sarah worked in case management at New Heights Neighborhood Center, a community based organization that provides educational and workforce development opportunities for disconnected youth in the Washington Heights/Inwood area. Before coming to New York, Sarah spent three years in Ecuador as a Youth and Families volunteer where she gained extensive international experience in sustainable community development work with vulnerable populations, especially women, youth, and children. During her time abroad, she co-founded the Ecuadorean non-profit organization, Creando Futuro, which is dedicated to the education, growth, and development of children, youth, and their families in Muisne, Esmeraldas. Sarah also opened up the first Peace Corps program in the Galapagos Islands dedicated to working with marginalized youth and their families on topics such as HIV/AIDS awareness, alcohol/drug abuse prevention, life skills planning, reproductive health/rights, domestic violence, positive communication skills, self-esteem, and nutrition. She received her B.A. in Communications from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She is fluent in Spanish and loves to dance.

Jeannie Ferrari, Curriculum Developer

Originally from Detroit, Jeannie was the first person in her family to go to college. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Latin American Literature and Anthropology, where she learned to speak and read Spanish fluently. After a transformative experience teaching English to migrant farm workers, she chose to pursue teaching as a career. After getting certified 6 years ago, she moved to NYC to work in an amazing, teacher-run progressive public high school. During the summer of 2006, she was awarded a New Visions grant to study educational and economic development in Guatemala and Venezuela, which led her to pursue an M.A. in international educational development at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her concentration is in human rights and peace education, and she co-directs a new student organization devoted to social change through the arts. She is committed to serving NYC youth, and looks forward to both teaching and applying to Ph.D. programs in philosophy and urban educational reform this fall. She is excited to be part of Global Potential and hopes all students can have an opportunity like this someday.

Peter Maugeri

Peter holds his Master of Science in Social Work from Fordham University and is currently the project coordinator at the Academy for Urban Planning in Bushwick. He comes to GP with an eclectic repertoire of experience. Peter began his professional career as a fitness trainer and outdoorsman after graduating from Boston University with a degree in Exercise Physiology. In 1999 he co-launched a technology-based magazine targeting 150 colleges in the U.S., which successfully became the largest college magazine in the country with a circulation of 2.5 million. After the burst of the .com bubble, Peter moved to New York City where he picked up a camera and documented the lives of a group of homeless men and women living in his neighborhood. Currently he is editing his documentary, which spans a period of three years. This experience inspired him to study Social Work. In 2007 Peter interned at The Bridge, Inc. where he facilitated a wellness program for clients with a dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse living with HIV/AIDS. Peter also interned at the National Alliance for Mental Illness in NYC coordinating outreach to enhance awareness and combat the stigma of living with a mental illness. He has recently produced and directed Voice Your Choice, a 20-minute film about the experiential process of therapy in the Ryan White program at the Bridge, Inc. and Six Weeks to Wellness, a 10-minute film about the benefits of yoga for those living with a mental illness. In 2004 Peter’s father died of esophageal cancer. Two years later he and his family established the Sempre Allegro Foundation, providing monetary assistance to those battling cancer.

Ays Necioglu

Ays holds an MS in Social Enterprise Administration with a minor in International Social Welfare from Columbia University, and a BA from Vassar College. Currently, Ays is the College Program Manager at Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, a non-profit organization that serves youth of color from under-served communities in NYC, where she develops programming to assist students’ personal, academic and career development through college graduation. Ays spent one year at the UNICEF headquarters in the Post-Crisis Transition Unit, where she conducted research on aligning the Millennium Development Goals with post-crisis development in 50 countries; has worked as a Program Development Consultant at LearnServeEthiopia and was a Development Intern at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Washington, DC. Ays had a one year placement at Planned Parenthood where she did therapy and case management with drug-addicted homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS, has had long term involvement with The Hague International Model United Nations, the National Model United Nations in New York, and is the founder of an AIDS Awareness Foundation in Ankara, Turkey. As a Turkish citizen who grew up in numerous countries, many developing, Ays is astutely aware of the inequalities that plague the state of global affairs. It has been her life-long mission to work closely with organizations that effectively address global issues and institute small changes that make a world of difference.

Anne Murray

Annie moved from Pennsylvania to Bronx, NY in 2004 to attend Fordham University. In 2008 she graduated from Fordham University Rosehill Campus with a Bachelor of Social Work and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. During her undergraduate career Annie was very active in working with the Bronx community. She has worked with at-risk populations including the elderly, youth, and immigrant populations throughout a variety of neighborhoods in the Bronx, NY, specifically in the areas of accessing available resources and community organizing. In addition to working with urban populations in New York City, Annie also has a marked interest in working with vulnerable populations internationally. In 2007, Annie spent six months in Mexico City where she studied Psychology at Universidad Iberoamericana and completed an internship in Communitarian Psychology at a men’s correctional facility, Reclusorio Preventivo Oriente, providing both individual and group therapy to residents. Annie is currently in her second year working toward a Master of Social Work at Fordham University and works in the Bronx, NY for the Bronx Jewish Community Council.

Lisa A. Kletjian

Lisa A. Kletjian is a first-year Master of Social Work degree candidate at Columbia University with a concentration in Advanced Clinical Practice. Her first year field placement site was W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School in East New York, Brooklyn, where she provided group and individual counseling to students in grades 10-12. In 2009, Lisa implemented a school-based teacher awareness pilot project in collaboration with the organization Teaching Tolerance. The pilot, Teaching Diverse Students Initiative (TDSi), uses focus groups and survey data to open dialogues with teachers on the topics of race/ethnicity, multiculturalism, and socio-demographic issues that play into the learning experiences of marginalized students. In addition to being a social worker-in-training, Lisa is an established documentary filmmaker who is excited to document this summer’s Global Potential program in the Dominican Republic. Prior to entering Columbia University, Lisa worked as the Series Assistant Editor on Wide Angle, the PBS television series exclusively dedicated to international current affairs documentaries. Lisa is currently in post-production on a film titled Eyes of GIs, which examines the psychological impact of war through veterans’ interviews and personally shot films. Lisa lives in Brooklyn, New York.