Since 1986, DARE has been organizing low-income families in communities of color for social, economic, and political justice. Started by a group of women living in Providence's Southside, DARE initially organizing the immediate neighborhood to demand the city clean up a local park. DARE is a membership-based organization, where low-income families in communities of color, who make up our membership, decide on and lead our organizing and advocacy campaigns, supported by staff organizers. Over 34 years of organizing, DARE has won campaigns to ensure local homeowners could affordably acquire abandoned lots from the city, restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated Rhode Islanders, ban the box on most job applications in the state that asked about criminal history, win healthcare and benefits for home daycare workers, and protect tenants in foreclosed properties from unjust evictions, and ensure police accountability in Providence. DARE is currently organizing to win rent control in Providence, remove barriers to professional licenses for those with criminal records, ensure a just state budget, and enable all Rhode Islanders regardless of documentation status to access driver's licenses.
