Amanda Fuchs



Amanda Fuchs graduated from Fordham University’s Graduate School for Social Service with her MSW, specializing in Global Service, in May 2009. She received her Bachelor’s in Social Work from Siena College in May 2008 with a minor in psychology. During her undergraduate career, Amanda had an internship at the Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center in Troy, New York, where she worked on the general and dementia units doing both individual counseling work and facilitating groups. Amanda had her first experience abroad when she spent four months in the spring of 2006 doing a study abroad program in Windhoek, Namibia. While there, she interned at Friendly Haven – Shelter for Abused Women and their Families, a domestic violence shelter where she created an aftercare group for previous shelter residents and completed three home stays with local families. She also spent time in South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In the spring of 2008, she traveled to Indonesia where she visited an orphanage, school, and Banda Aceh- the site of the 2004 tsunami. Amanda has been interning with Global Potential since October 2008, and is traveling with the youth to the Dominican Republic during summer 2009.

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.

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.

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.

Allyson Rotunno



Allyson Rotunno received her BA in Organizational Communication with a minor in Women’s Studies from SUNY New Paltz in May 05. She is a recent MSW graduate of Fordham’s graduate school of social service with a clinical concentration and an international social work specialization. Prior to Global Potential, Allyson worked as a Health and Drug Educator for the Archdiocese of New York for three years. It was there that she was able to work in over twelve different schools on Staten Island and educate up to 900 children per week. Ms. Rotunno has also interned as a school based intervention counselor in one elementary and one high school on Staten Island. She assessed and provided children with individual and group counseling. Ms. Rotunno was also a fellow with the Children of the World Community Program/Immigrant Project in Harlem. It was there that she worked with immigrants and refugees to provide comprehensive services including, advocacy, facilitating access to legal services, English conversational classes, cultural seminars and provided strong support to immigrant families in transition. Additionally, Allyson is involved with international human rights and community development, traveling to Ghana, Dominican Republic and Haiti. She is also interested in the immigration experience and the dilemmas facing immigrants and refugees. Ms. Rotunno hopes to continue working with immigrant families and provide support and advocacy regarding immigrant issues as well as working internationally.

Andrew J. Rosenthal, Summer 2009 facilitator in the Dominican Republic



Andrew J. Rosenthal recently received his Masters of Divinity degree for Union Theological Seminary in New York with a concentration in Ecumenics: Interfaith Dialogue and Education. At Union Andrew co-founded and organized Union’s first Interfaith Caucus. He was also a Student Life Assistant, initiating and implementing the “Live the Spirit – Be the Change” workshop series. The series was focuses on demonstrating social justice work as lived faith. In December 2008 he received a scholarship to attend the United Religions Initiative Global Assembly in Mayapur India. Andrew has traveled extensively in India to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Muslim pilgrimage sites, learning about a wide variety of spiritual practices. He has worked as a public school teacher, an archivist and is also a produced playwright. Andrew was born and raised in Brooklyn New York, and is a proud product of the New York City public schools. In the fourth grade he wrote his first play a one-act allegory about the consequences of global warming. It was never produced. He received his BA in Religion and English Literature from the University of Rochester. This Fall he will begin a chaplaincy residency program at Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn New York.

Jessica Salazar Dávila, Nicaragua Program Developer



Jessica Salazar Dávila is joining GP in July 2009 as summer facilitator in the Dominican Republic. She is half Nicaraguan and half Ecuadorian and was born and raised in the rural and indigenous community of Chagüitillo in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Ms. Dávila has personally been transformed through international service exchange by having hosted young volunteers from around the world in her house in Chagüitillo for the past 15 years. She has dedicated herself professionally to work with them in the implementation of various sustainable community development projects, which has helped farmers and rural inhabitants to find new sources of jobs through the Federación de Asociaciones de Sebaco. Other projects include leading workshops for women living in extreme poverty, on topics of sexual health, reduction of infant mortality and HIV/AIDS awareness. Ms. Dávila has also volunteered as a leader for more than 15 years in her local Community-Based Organization for Chagüitillo Development (Asociacion por el Desarrollo de Chaguitillo, ADCH) as well as for the local Museum of Precolumbian Art. These experiences have given Jessica the desire and commitment to help transform the world through youth and community development and to combine this with her professional training as an architect. As such, she has specialized in construction and humanitarian projects such as “Un techo para mi pais” and others by Habitat for Humanity. Ms. Dávila has worked on projects to strategize betterment in quality of life of high-risk urban neighborhoods of the capital of Managua. She is currently applying to be UNICEF volunteer in Nicaragua. Previously, Jessica has developed international exchange courses for youth in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico and has participated in a cultural exchange program between France and Nicaragua. Her native language is Spanish and is improving on a daily basis her English and French.

Milena Uribe



I was was born in Medellin, Colombia and raised in Brooklyn, NY. I’ve lived in Williamsburg since my family immigrated to the US in 1980. I recently moved to Bushwick in Dec. 2004. I’ve been working at the Academy of Urban Planning High School (AUP) since it opened up it’s doors to the Bushwick community in 2003. I am a bilingual school social worker. I love working with my students and helping them to navigate the growing pains of being a teen in high school.