In the Hudson Valley, these Gen Zers are the new faces of public affairs
At age 30, Vanessa Agudelo is a veteran in the trenches of public affairs.
Agudelo has made involvement in public affairs a centerpiece of her life – from her election to the Peekskill City Council in 2017 to her run for state Assembly in 2022 to her work as an organizer for the Energy Justice Network, concerned with air pollution from Westchester’s Charles Point trash-to-energy plant.
“We’re working hard to highlight the dangers of garbage incineration,” she said. “We need to build public awareness to activate support that would eventually lead to closure of the plant.”
Interviews with Agudelo and other members of Generation Z activists has found a broad array of involvement throughout the Hudson Valley, across the political spectrum.
There’s a college senior running for Rockland County legislator, an undocumented paralegal from Mount Kisco involved in immigration issues, and a Putnam County activist in his early 20s who works for the New York Police Department who was first elected to the local school board at age 18.
It’s all part of the younger generation’s commitment to the public sphere and their desire to improve their lives of others in their communities.
“Young people are getting involved, coming out to vote, and attending public meetings,” said Dutchess County Legislator Joey Cavaccini, 23, R-Wappinger, who works as a legislative aide in the town of Pawling. “Young people can see the impact of government when they move back, have a family, and get a job.”
First appointed at age 12
Cavaccini, who was elected in 2019, began in public service at the ripe age of 12. That’s when he was appointed town historian during his efforts to bring recognition to the forgotten hamlet of Swartoutville in the town of Wappinger, which was a gathering place for generals during the Revolutionary War.
By age 14, he became the volunteer curator of the Sports Museum of Dutchess County. He founded the Friends of Carnwath Farms Historic Site & Park to help preserve the town’s park. And he won his first election in 2017 to the local library board at age 18, making him the youngest ever elected in the town.
By 19, he’d won a seat on the Dutchess County Legislature, where he’s now in his second term, and chair of its Environment Committee. Among his accomplishments was securing $200,000 in funding for the Sports Museum, suspension of the county’s sales tax on gasoline, and elimination of sales tax on items costing less than $110.
Inspiring the Dutchess County Republican to get involved as such a young age was Rep. Marc Molinaro, the former Dutchess County executive who elected was mayor of the village of Tivoli at age 18,
“He was a role model,” said Cavaccini.
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Working for immigrant rights
Lisdy Contreras-Giron, 25, of Mount Kisco, was 5 years old when her parents migrated to the United States from Guatemala. She attended Bedford schools, and as a teen, learned the travails of growing up as an undocumented citizen. In 2012, after the U.S. Congress failed to pass immigration reform President Obama initiated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which protects eligible immigrants who came to the U.S. as children from deportation.
Now she’s working as a paralegal for a local law firm on immigration cases while volunteering as an organizer for Make the Road New York, an immigrant reform advocacy group. She was in Albany lobbying for reform in February.
“Early on I came to realize the difficulties and barriers faced by immigrants,” she said. “I realize the inequities. I wanted to use my voice to help people in similar circumstances. I want to be on the frontlines, marching and advocating.” Lisdy Contreras-Giron
Contreras-Giron, who graduated from Pace University, has her sights on law school. She also a hankering for public office. But for now, with her life in limbo with her temporary DACA status, she’s still not a U.S. citizen, so she can’t run for office. She can't vote.
“I’d love to run for school board, but right now I can’t do it,” she said. “I feel I have the passion. I grew up in the Bedford school system. But the immigration laws will have to change so I could get on the ballot.”
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Fighting the Old Guard
John Curzio, 25, of Kent, has a strong commitment to public service. Now in his second term on the Carmel Board of Education, Curzio has made a name for himself as an advocate of fiscal restraint and free speech.
The 2015 graduate of Carmel High burst on the scene in 2016 with his surprise victory at the polls at age 18. By 2017, he was in hot water with the board’s older members because he had read a letter at a meeting from a constituent who opposed the board’s $86 million bond plan, which included buying land for a new $11 million bus garage.
While attempts to oust Curzio from the board failed, he lost re-election. Undeterred, Curzio was elected in 2021.
Curzio, a New York City police officer and member of the Putnam County Young Republicans, has returned to the board after the panel subsequently decided to kill the bus garage project because cost projections were far higher than those when the bond vote passed.
“The whole project is dead, and we just retained a broker to sell the land we bought,” Curzio said. “I decided to run again because I like speaking up for a section of the community that wasn’t being represented. There was unfinished business with the education of our students, with taxes, and making sure our community was getting the best band for their education bucks.”
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Coming back home
As a senior at Clarkstown South High, David Bruen interned with state Sen. David Carlucci, and later, worked on the campaign of Congressional candidate Mondaire Jones, who was elected in 2020.
This spring, he’s serving as treasurer of the Rockland County Democratic Committee while completing his undergraduate studies in at Syracuse University, majoring in political science and policy studies. As he prepares to graduate, he’s putting his education to work as a candidate to represent the 11th District in the Rockland County Legislature.
Bruen, 21, who has served two years as president of the Syracuse Student Association, said the county legislative district and the Syracuse student body both include about 16,000 constituents.
Among his policy triumphs at Syracuse was the university’s investment of $120,000 into a program to provide free feminine hygiene products to undergraduate women and a transportation program for students to access local supermarkets.
Bruen said his campaign will focus on environmental sustainability, the fight against overdevelopment, as well as the need for affordable housing that’s accessible to young adults.
“We need a growth mindset, but not so dramatic as to change the face of Rockland County,” said Bruen.
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Inspired by his aunt
North Rockland High senior Hunter Petro was introduced to the political world in 2019 when his aunt, Janet Hannigan Guerra, ran for Stony Point town clerk. She lost, but the campaign opened his eyes to the world of Rockland County public affairs.
It gave him a glimpse of how one could have an impact in the community.
Petro, who turned 18 on Feb. 18, registered to vote, and was welcomed as a member of the Stony Point Democratic Town Committee this spring.
At high school, where he’s president of the Student Council, Petro has promoted voter registration, with an initiative he proposed now in place to have seniors in the school government class be given a pre-registration form from the Rockland County Board of Elections so they will become registered voters on the day they turn 18.
Concerned that the town has underutilized its open space, he sent an email to Stony Point Supervisor Jim Monahan last summer, asked for a meeting to discuss his ideas about potential uses for the land. Monahan entertained his ideas and offered shared his views on projects he envisions for underused town land.
“He provided insights into what he was hoping to see,” said Petro. “It was good to see that I was listened about the local issues I care about. I think it’s possible to get things done on the local level.”
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Reaching across party lines
Dutchess County Legislator Will Truitt, R-Hyde Park, who was elected at age 20, will run for his fifth term this fall.
He comes from a family with ties to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Hyde Park politician who rose up to become governor of New York and U.S. president. His great-great-grandfather was a plumber who worked at FDR’s home in Hyde Park. His grandfather was named Franklin Delano Truitt.
The Legislature’s majority leader, now 27, became involved in government while a freshman at Marist College, landing an internship with then-County Executive Marc Molinaro. While in Molinaro’s office, he became enmeshed in county government issues. Soon he learned that the incumbent Democrat in his district, which includes parts of Hyde Park and the town of Poughkeepsie, stood in strong opposition to policies promoted by Molinaro.
So he went door-to-door, twice visiting homes of all enrolled voters – not just the Republicans, but Democrats and those not enrolled in any party.
Truitt, who serves as chief financial officer at Metzger Construction in Hopewell Junction, said the outreach paid off in 2015, and continues to pay off today.
“My predecessor wanted to oppose, oppose, oppose,” said Truitt. “I thought Molinaro was doing a good job, and I wanted to get things done.”
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It began with opposition to Iraq war
Vincent Pedi, 31, who chairs the Dutchess County Young Democrats, first became involved in political issues as a high school student at Walkill High in Orange County.
Pedi, who lives in the city of Poughkeepsie, works as an outreach coach at Dutchess Community College and has long been involved in political campaigns, including many rounds of collecting signatures on nominating petitions.
“You need to put your ego aside,” said Pedi. “Going door-to-door collecting signatures may seem demeaning, but it’s a rite of passage in politics.”
This year, Pedi is collecting signatures to put himself on the ballot in his bid to become the at-large member of the Poughkeepsie Common Council, which would make him chairman of the panel.
“The city of Poughkeepsie has a plateful of issues – affordable housing, public safety, housing insecurity and gang violence. I’m also interesting in driving smart development and creating new career opportunities for young people.”
Follow David McKay Wilson on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: These Hudson Valley Gen Z members are politically involved
