ABSTRACT
In 1987, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), organized families who lived near the playground to demand that the city of Providence renovate it for the neighborhood’s young children. DARE continues to use collective direct action as the primary tactic for winning community issues because of its commitment to transforming victims into victors, to forcing a redistribution of decisionmaking power and to building an organizational base of power for low-income Providence families. The most effective way for a low-income person to become empowered is to see how people in power treat them differently when they are with a group of angry neighbors with clear demands. Much of DARE’s organizational strength and legitimacy comes from its multiracial composition, achieved through years of cultivating a membership, board, and staff to reflect the racial diversity within low-income families in Providence. DARE developed a fiscally conservative long-range financial management strategy to communicate an image of fiscal responsibility and stability.
