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The Advocate
"I can relate to when you don't know who to turn to.”
Growing up I had seen the struggles that my family went through financially. When I grew up, my father worked in a factory. That closed down in the mid 90s. For me, at a young age I realized that a lot of people were struggling. I feel that I wanted to become a social worker.
The people who really may not have had a voice or may not have been able to express their own voice, or maybe were scared to express their voice. And I really, really truly at a young age, wanted to be that voice. And my passion in social work truly, truly lies in advocacy and really lies in advocating for what people need and for what people want.
I can relate to when you don't know who to turn to or when you don't know what avenue to take or you're not comfortable speaking out or asking for help. Social workers really sit with people in their times of great, great need. And that's where the problems and the larger problems of society can be identified. This is a really crucial time for people to stand up for working families.
Sometimes, it helps to understand where a person comes from in order to help them persevere. GSSW Class of 2012 grad Cheryl Bogdan’s father was a factory worker, and money was scarce in their rent-stabilized Queens residence. The warmth and togetherness of a loving home and connected community was essential to her nurturing. Those values as Cheryl remembers, “Got me interested in housing issues and advocacy work.” After becoming the first person in her family to graduate high school, she was determined to “give back to the communities that gave so much to me.”
Through fellowships and fieldwork at Touro, she soon got her chance - assisting geriatrics battling Alzheimer’s as well as helping rehabilitate ex-convicts. In the years ahead, she plans to direct her energies toward broader advocacy for those in need. The universal message in her experiences and those of her clients is that it’s only possible to affect the world outside you by maintaining inner resolve. “Social work is about change, in a person or a community,” she reflects. “You can effect change in a community. You have to believe that’s possible.”
This is Cheryl Bogdan’s story.
