Gabrielle Hill Seeks County Legislator Post

By Jennifer L. Warren

NEWBURGH – It’s a slightly chilly, mid-March afternoon and Gabrielle Hill is enjoying the outdoors in a setting close to her heart, Tyrone Crabb Park, on the corner of Grand and South Streets in the City of Newburgh.

“This is where I grew up and have always lived,” says a proud Hill sitting on a bench while, pointing to the Waterfront backdrop as she surveys the area. “Over there, behind us, that’s where I went to elementary school, back when Horizons on the Hudson was called the Montgomery Street School.”

It’s that connection to the inherent beauty and nostalgia of the Newburgh landscape as well as the “great people who are its most treasured resource,” that have served as critical catalysts for the 55 year old, lifelong native of Newburgh grandmother to make the decision to run for Orange County Legislator for District Four.

“Grandmothers take care of the community and have unique ways of bringing people together through accountability,” explained the grandmother of two who is also a “surrogate parent” to many children in the City of Newburgh. “We are great listeners, especially when it comes to our youth.”

It’s that young population that is at the very epicenter of Hill’s chief platforms, aimed at reshaping the reputation and potential of District Four (City of Newburgh/Balmville.) Hailing from a professional background in customer service and hospitality, Hill was a long-time Chief Crew Person in a highly successful establishment, overseeing young people. Presently, she continues to have a profound impact on youth through her six year long work with Restorative Justice in community building and restoration circles, aimed at offering alternatives to punitive justice.

“Restorative justice removes the hierarchy and makes room for meaningful conversation that opens the door to positive solutions,” explained Hill about the community involved approach to problem solving.

Her City of Hope Drop-in Center mentorship endeavors further speak to her commitment to and belief in young people.

“It sounds cliché, but the youth truly are our future, and the community needs to invest in them,” affirms Hill, a strong advocate of community-based groups to assist this pivotal population. “Families make up people and communities; they are all connected and when one thrives, the other does; it’s one big circle.”

In addition to her platforms aimed at assisting young people, Hill aspires to making a difference with some of the less vocal, but just as deserving populations that reside in her District. Immersed in community activism for over ten years; she recently led a touching Breonna Taylor One Year Anniversary Vigil. She also implemented some emotionally-charged ideas, helping to creatively transport the Harriet Tubman Statue through some of the iconic streets of Newburgh to the Newburgh Free Library. It’s that dedication to, belief in, and bond with her City that people close to her could not help but acutely notice and feel.

“People who worked with me saw an opportunity for me to step up and to run for this position,” said Hill, involved with the Newburgh Arts and Culture Study, Armory Board of Directors as well as Harriet Tubman Committee and several other community roles. “They saw that I could be a real voice for the City of Newburgh, especially for those who aren’t normally heard.”

Hill wants more than anything for that voice to be one of reframing the image of her District. She is quick to cite how the “old Newburgh” when she was growing up used to be, a thriving, beautiful place, a destination spot where community reigned and anything was possible.
“It pains me that Newburgh is now known for its drugs, violence and other negative things,” says Hill as she takes in a view of the Waterfront. “This was not always the case at all.”

The energetic, dynamic Hill continues as she gets excited contemplating a different Newburgh, one filled with positivity, jobs, community and a thriving economy with limitless potential.

“People all want the same things- successful careers, stability, and a home to call their own where they have a happy childhood,” said Hill. “We can have all of those things here, but we need a plan; where is that 40 year plan that will make Newburgh a place that will offer people a good life?”

Hill is proposing a start to a solution for that elusive framework through her VIBES (Visionary, Ideas, Building, Economic, Stability) platform. Her eyes light up and a wide smile covers her face as she emphasizes the good people in her City, the historic landscape and majestic Hudson River, that engulfs it and the flowing neighboring job opportunities in Montgomery’s wearhouses that can be game changers for hundreds in her District with training and needed resources.

“I want us to come together as one, and really see what’s best for all of us,” says Hill as she continues to look at her surroundings with pride and joy. “I want us to become forward-looking people, who see anything is possible.” Alluding to Martin Luther King, Jr., Hill adds how anyone is capable of being great if he/she chooses to serve. Pondering still further, the mother, grandmother and Newburgh native poses something she is desperately seeking an answer to: “We need to think about: What is it that we want Newburgh to be known for, and then really go out and make that happen.”