Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter lived in University Heights’ gated community of Fordham Hill for 20 years before becoming a local activist. But in the three years since she joined the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, she has championed vital issues such as school overcrowding, economic revitalization and voter registration.

On Friday, Feb. 23, Pilgrim-Hunter was among four New York City leaders honored by Congressman José E. Serrano and State Senator José M. Serrano during a ceremony commemorating Black History Month. Each received a State Senate proclamation and a statement to be placed in the U.S. Congressional Record.

“I was very shocked when I found out because I don’t do this work for any awards,” says Pilgrim-Hunter, whose desire to connect with her neighborhood set her on the unlikely path of “community organizer.”

But for Pilgrim-Hunter, whose mother worked for the United Nations, leadership was part of her pedigree. Born of Guyanese parents in London, England, she jokes about how by the age of 20, she had “lived in six countries on three different continents.” She’s been permanent resident of New York since 1971.

A graduate of New York University, Pilgrim-Hunter has worked in cosmetic and fashion retail, as a mentor coordinator, and as a welfare-to-work career counselor. The latter, sometimes “depressing” work, she says, gave her a deep awareness of inner city economic disparity, where families were generations deep in welfare dependency.

But awareness wasn’t enough; something was still missing.

The wealth of responsibilities she’s recently taken on has filled this void. Appointed to the Coalition’s board in January 2007, Pilgrim-Hunter works toward Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment, advocating transparency in contract negotiations and for living wage jobs beyond the renovations to stimulate neighborhood revitalization.

Pilgrim-Hunter is also leading negotiations for four new schools on the back end of the Armory. In particular, she says the two new high schools would address the “rampant overcrowding” in Bronx schools. The city is only planning to put two new schools for middle and elementary school students at the Armory.

Pilgrim-Hunter has also started the Concerned Shareholders of Fordham Hill in response to controversial decisions by the board of directors, including plans to cut security staffing. Her main goal there is to “establish a new board that will respect the community, and act according to the best interest of the shareholders.”

Of her tireless efforts, Coalition staff organizer Ava Farkas says, “Desiree is a leader in the true sense of the word. She is an incredibly strong woman who is never deterred [nor] easily intimidated.”

Pilgrim-Hunter, who lives with her husband, Robert, and the younger of their two daughters at Fordham Hill, is dedicated to her family and to her community. More than the recognition, the ceremony represents for Pilgrim-Hunter, a confirmation that “I am doing the work I was meant to do.”

But that work is far from finished and Pilgrim-Hunter has big goals.

Busy with several causes, she hopes to see the Grand Concourse restored to its heyday as the “Park Avenue of the Bronx,” and to improve educational and economic opportunities in her community.

In keeping with her father’s motto, she says: “When my time is up, I want to know that I leave this place better off than I found it.”