Better the little the just have than the abundance of the wicked.
Psalm 37:16
To each that may have need
The people most affected by decisions about energy costs, housing, wages, Medicaid, food, and transportation are the least represented in the process that determines them.
Dignity PAC exists to change that: building political power for the 130,000 Rhode Islanders living in poverty through focused advocacy, independent expenditures, and sustained pressure on the decisions that shape the lives of those in poverty.
How it works.
Contributions are pooled into a single, transparent fund to build collective political leverage that would not exist on an individual level. That leverage is used to run independent expenditures, advocacy campaigns, voter registration drives, GOTV efforts and voter education focused on a defined set of material issues: energy costs, housing, healthcare, food access, wages, and the overall cost of living.
All spending and income is publicly reported and fully trackable here (search “Dignity PAC” under “Last Name/Org. Name). Activity is limited to these core priorities, not donor preference. Financial support does not confer decision-making power. Direction is set to reflect the interests of people living in poverty, turning broad participation into a sustained political force in Rhode Island.
Dignity PAC is focused on improving the immediate conditions of life for people living in poverty. It does not center long-term pathways out of poverty.
Instead, it focuses on the decisions that shape daily life now: housing costs, energy bills, healthcare access, wages, and food. Changes that materially improve stability, affordability, and dignity in the present.
ADVOCACY
Automatic Enrollment
Dignity PAC advocates for the adoption of automatic enrollment systems that connect existing state data to guarantee basic needs such as nutrition, housing, healthcare and energy are met, eliminating application barriers and waiting lists where need is already clearly identifiable.
Supplemental Essentials Benefit
Dignity PAC advocates for the creation and funding of a state-level supplemental essentials benefit, administered alongside SNAP, that could be used to purchase essential products not currently covered by SNAP to those who qualify.
General Advocacy
Reversal of Medicaid cuts and GLP-1 defunding
Universally-free school meals
Utility shutoff protections
Expansion of non-police response to homelessness
A state-level wage floor indexed to the cost of living
Large-scale public housing development
WHO WE ARE
David Alden Sears
Co-Chair
David grew up in Knightsville in Cranston, Rhode Island in a working-class union family marked by financial insecurity, addiction, and instability. Like many families living one emergency away from crisis, he saw how poverty, housing insecurity, public services, schools, and community support systems shape the lives of ordinary people.
Today, he works directly with young people as a behavioral support professional and educator. David also serves as a Eucharistic Minister and Lector at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence.
Benjamin Branchaud
Co-Chair
Ben spent his childhood and teenage years navigating Medicaid, SSDI, food stamps, heating assistance and reliance on the RICAN Food Pantry for his single-parent household, learning firsthand how public programs and local safety nets shape daily survival and stability.
He later brought that experience into his work at the State House, where he has spent more than a decade advocating for labor and civil rights issues.
