Jill Roche Gomez is the inaugural Executive Director of the Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet, the city’s cradle‑to‑career backbone initiative that unites government, schools, nonprofits, business, philanthropy, families, and youth to ensure every child thrives. Appointed in October 2023, Jill leads implementation of the Cabinet’s 10‑year strategy—guiding fundraising, data‑driven planning, and cross‑sector collaboration designed to connect 5,000+ Poughkeepsie young people and their families to transformative opportunities each year by 2033, building pathways to socioeconomic mobility. 

A results‑oriented nonprofit leader with more than 15 years of experience, Jill is known for building strong civic infrastructure, authentic relationships, and securing the resources necessary for community change. Before PCC, she spent a 15-years at the Hunts Point Alliance for Children in the South Bronx—six years as Executive Director—where she tripled the organization’s budget, expanded staff, and forged neighborhood‑wide partnerships that improved educational outcomes for youth and families. Earlier roles with Education Pioneers, Bridgeport and New Jersey departments of education, and the New York State Courts focused on strategy and educational equity, experiences that honed her expertise in policy, collective impact, and community organizing.

Jill holds a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and an LL.M. in International Law & Human Rights from Maastricht University in the Netherlands . A Hudson Valley resident, she is passionate about harnessing collective action to expand opportunity and believes every child deserves pathways to discover their spark—and succeed.

Matt Evans serves as Community Partnership Director for the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet, where he coordinates the Cradle-to-Career Continuum. He focuses on advancing program quality initiatives that create systemic change, implementing comprehensive assessment protocols, and ensuring all partners align around common goals and data practices.

Matt brings experience spanning juvenile justice, education, and community development. His career began at a non-secure juvenile detention center, focusing on youth AWOL prevention and enacted restorative justice and positive behavior intervention programs. Transitioning into education, Matt served two school districts, where he led district-wide social-emotional learning implementation and expanded the My Brother's Keeper mentoring program into elementary schools.

As a Community School Director in Western Queens, Matt launched comprehensive, integrated services. He established a school-based mental health clinic, food pantry, laundry program, and literacy initiatives while dramatically addressing chronic absenteeism through targeted success mentoring and data-driven interventions that increased attendance rates by 12% among the targeted student population.

Beyond his professional work, Matt has demonstrated sustained civic leadership spanning nearly two decades. He serves as Vice Chair of the Westchester County Youth Advisory Board and previously served nine years on his local school board, including roles as President and Vice President, and as a Village Trustee for five years.

Matt holds a Master of Public Administration & Policy from American University and a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development from SUNY Empire State College. Matt is a member of Pi Alpha Alpha, the Global Honor Society for Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration.

Alexandra Smith joined the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet team in October 2024 as the Children's Funding Coordinator. In this role, she assesses the federal, state, local, and philanthropic funding that is coming into the City of Poughkeepsie for youth programming, models the costs of expanding existing or creating new programming, and identifies sustainable public funding solutions to pay for those programs. Alexandra's role was made possible through a grant from the Children’s Funding Project with support from StriveTogether.

Alexandra has significant experience in all parts of the non-profit and public sector. Before joining the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet, Alexandra worked as a Program Associate at The Burke Foundation, a childhood and maternal health foundation based in Princeton, New Jersey, where she focused on grants that supported the birthing and early childhood health workforce--namely doulas, midwives, and community nurses. She also spent several years working for the New York City Department of Small Business Services, where she managed a portfolio of job training programs in the healthcare sector.

In addition to her role as Children's Funding Coordinator, Alexandra holds an adjunct position leading New York University's Wagner School of Public Service Writing Center's coaching intervention for students earning their Masters of Health Administration, and teaches an Introduction to Public Policy recitation section for their Masters of Public Administration program.

Alexandra earned her Masters of Public Administration in Health Policy Analysis in 2018 from NYU Wagner, where she focused her studies on social determinants of health. She earned her B.A. in Sociology from NYU College of Arts and Science, and is a proud Dutchess County native.

Edgar Rivera-Cash is the Community Ambassadors Coordinator and Civic Research Coordinator at the Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet. He is excited to support community-driven change by uplifting resident leadership, fostering deep engagement, and ensuring equity is centered in all aspects of the Choice Neighborhood Initiative and the Cabinet's broader efforts. Additionally, he leverages his experience in community participatory and qualitative research to serve as liaison to key data and research projects at PCC.

He brings several years of research experience, having previously served as a Research Analyst at the Research Alliance for New York City Schools at NYU. In that role, he conducted qualitative research contributing to the evaluation of multiple K–12 computer science programs, including the Computer Science for All (CS4All) initiative.

Edgar is also currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Sociology of Education program at NYU Steinhardt. His doctoral research explores the socio-cultural, institutional, and interpersonal factors that contribute to the marginalization of queer Latine students in higher education.

He is a proud alumnus of Poughkeepsie High School and holds an M.A. in Sociology and Education from Columbia University, as well as a B.A. in Sociology from Vassar College.

Sheba Abrahaim is the Early Childhood Champions Coordinator for the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet. A Dutchess County native, Sheba has worked in the non-profit sector for more than twenty-five years, spending most of her career with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

She co-founded a political radio program called "The Greater Good," where she served as co-host, and is currently working to establish another radio program called "The Cross Section." Sheba is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, where she serves as Mentorship and Youth in Philanthropy Chair. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in International Business from Lehman College and a Master's degree in Non-Profit Leadership from Fordham University. She also serves on the boards of the League of Women Voters of the Mid-Hudson Region and Literacy Connections of the Hudson Valley.

Bryce is a proud Poughkeepsie native that recently graduated from the University of Virginia with a self-designed honors degree titled “Cradle-to-Career Education.” He aspires to follow in the footsteps of those who helped him to where he is today by championing the place-based cradle-to-career field on a personal and purposeful mission so that every child, no matter their background, is on a pathway to socioeconomic mobility. Injustice has always compounded among itself in its many forms; Bryce deeply believes in community collective impact as a means to achieve equity, confront normalized crises, and build bridges in this polarizing time. Outside of work, Bryce serves his community on the City of Poughkeepsie Planning Board and Dutchess County BOCES Board of Trustees.