Madeline DelGreco

UConn School of Social Work

I am from Farmington, Connecticut, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science from Central Connecticut State University in 2019. While I grew up in a middle-class suburb with easy access to health services, I know that many communities in Connecticut do not have such luxuries.
As a volunteer for Connecticut Community for Addiction and Recovery, I would sit in at Narcotics Anonymous meetings and help attendees write their resumés. I also had the opportunity to hear personal stories about how discrimination and lack of job opportunities and of community support negatively affected attendees’ recoveries. As a volunteer for #insulin4all, I advocated for legislation to increase insulin accessibility. Through this advocacy, I witnessed how people with type 1 diabetes from urban areas frequently faced challenges obtaining care and insulin, which often led to long-term health problems and medical emergencies.
I am passionate about improving access to comprehensive health services for vulnerable communities. My experiences with the Urban Service Track/AHEC Scholars (UST/AS) Program will train me to advocate for such communities to get the resources they need. Each community is different, each requires a particularized approach; it is one of my most important duties as a social worker to understand each community so that I can best advocate for them, so that each community member can receive the healthcare they need to live their best life. Through the UST/AS Program’s hands-on approach to pedagogy, I will learn how to interact with and gauge the needs of whichever communities I will go on to serve.