COMMUNITY PARTNER SPOTLIGHT by Bradly Widener
DARE F PIC TURED ABOVE: DARE’s m a rc h to t h e B a r b a ra Jordan II homes in South Providence to demand they remain affordable to very low-income families. BELOW: A scene from America Too 2018: Providence’s Housing Crisis in Trinity Rep’s Dowling Theater.
ounded in 1986, DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) began as a group of Providence Southside residents gathered around a kitchen table to solve problems in their neighborhood. Today, DARE continues to champion social, political, and economic justice by organizing low-income families in communities of color. Part of their groundbreaking work included partnering with Trinity Rep in 2018 to explore how to use art to shine a light on housing insecurity in Providence. “A group called DARE saw the good work that we had been doing…and they asked how they could help us engage the community as activists with our art making,” recounts Joe Wilson, Jr., a resident acting company member at Trinity Rep and founder of America Too, an initiative that utilizes the performing arts to reflect on the times in which we live and catalyze community conversation. “So, we had a series of conversations with DARE, and they educated us about gentrification and affordable housing and the complexities around that. In many ways, artists are often viewed as ‘gentrifiers’ – going into neighborhoods that had been in existence for a long time and ‘rejuvenating’ them, which often times, leaves behind the people who had been there for generations. After discussing with DARE for a long time, we decided to make America Too…about the housing crisis in Providence.
We identified playwrights who had been in conversation with DARE and their members and asked them to write short plays around the topic of housing instability. Over the course of four workshops and several conversations, these plays [became] the focus of America Too 2018: Providence Housing Crisis.” The culminating event of America Too each year is a free-to-attend, staged reading of locally written plays that illuminate the topic, followed by a robust audience discussion. America Too 2018: Providence Housing Crisis indeed opened folks’ eyes to the deep-seated inequities that exist in the local housing market. Three years later, DARE is still fighting for housing equality in light of loopholes that allow landlords to evict tenants in the midst of the pandemic. DARE’s efforts extend much further than just housing equality, however. Over the years, DARE has focused resources on issues ranging from protecting and improving playgrounds on the Southside to winning passage of the Providence External Review Authority (PERA) which established a civilian review of the Providence Police. In July 2020, DARE won passage of a law that removes barriers to accessing over one hundred professional licenses, such as those for plumbers, drivers, and barbers, for applicants with criminal records. DARE uses “four interconnected strategies to build power, win campaigns and fuel a lasting movement for social change.” These strategies, “base building,” “direct action organizing,” “leadership development,” and “movement building,” have empowered DARE to achieve numerous successes since their founding. We all know the phrase, “actions speak louder than words.” Well, it’s abundantly clear from their actions that DARE is deeply committed to making a real difference in the lives of so many disenfranchised local residents, and indeed, DARE has made Providence and Rhode Island a much better place for it. We applaud DARE’s incredible tenacity and accomplishments and look forward to strengthening our partnership to further shed light on systemic issues that affect our local community. More information about DARE can be found at www. daretowin.org or on Facebook @daretowinri, Twitter @ renterpowerpvd, and Instagram @dare.pvd. THE TRINITY SQUARE • SPRING 2021
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