About Dream
Defenders
Organizational History
The Dream Defenders was founded in April 2012 after the tragic killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. We are a Black youth-led organization that emerged from a march from Daytona Beach to Sanford, Florida, and a 31-day occupation of the Florida State Capitol. We organize Black and Brown youth to build power in our communities and fight for a future where everyone has their basic needs met. Read more in our Member Toolkit.
Formations
Dream Defenders organizes through multiple structures: Street Teams, SquaDDs, and Chapters, based on experience, capacity, and local conditions.
Start a FormationGrand Strategic Objective
Our grand strategic objective is to end our generation's support for capitalism (profit over everything), project an alternative vision of society, and affirm that interdependence and redistribution of wealth is a solution to poverty and racism, through organizing hundreds of thousands of young Black and Brown people into a national movement organization fighting to govern.
Our goal is to transform the cultural, protest and voting power of our generation into an organized force capable of pushing an economic and social agenda for freedom that prioritizes safety and a good life for all.
Mission & Vision
We believe every person deserves safety and a good life. We believe that a new world, grounded in the basic idea that there is enough to provide every person on this planet with food, shelter, healthcare, quality education, and safety, is possible. We know capitalism, white supremacy, imperialism, and patriarchy serve no one. The problem is politicians and the corporate elite have hijacked our imaginations into thinking there is no alternative to these systems. That there is no alternative to a society of haves and have-nots.
Organization
Membership Structure
We build power through local street teams, SquaDDs, and chapters, formations organized in cities and schools across the United States. Members join through orientation, welcome calls, and interest meetings, and are able to participate in political education, engage in local and state-wide campaigns, and more!
Our Vision
The Freedoms
Overview of the Freedoms
Our vision for a world where we are free from prisons and police, and have the housing, healthcare, and resources we need.
Freedom Papers
Read the foundational documents outlining our strategy and vision for liberation.
Read Now →Freedom Papers Videos
Watch our multi-part video series breaking down the concepts within the Freedom Papers.
Watch Series →Current Campaign • C.R.E.A.M.
Freedom Needs Fighters:
Class Ruins Everything Around Me
C.R.E.A.M. Campaign Overview
A campaign to build a new fold of creative class-conscious workers. As we work daily to survive the end of a world, we will fight against the capitalist class to build a new one.
We're bringing the fight to billionaires across the nation and organizing the next generation of freedom fighters against racial capitalism at the local level.
Campaign Goals:
- Expand our base-building efforts, nationally absorbing people into the organization using the urgency of this political moment.
- Raise the collective consciousness of our Black & Brown audience regarding racial capitalism.
- Arm our people with the necessary analysis to fight against fascism, by taking action through uprisings, mutual aid efforts, issue based organizing, and local elections.
- Situating ourselves as the vanguard contender against Billionaires as a Black socialist front.
Member Benefits
Active Dream Defenders members gain exclusive access to confidential organizing spaces, internal strategy documents, direct ticketing support, and real-time updates.
Links to Signal Chats
Direct access links to private chapter and working group Signal chats for secure coordination and rapid alerts.
Submit an Organizing Ticket
Submit project proposals, request logistics assistance, legal support, or funding for local actions directly to the Leadership Council.
Member Dashboard (Notes, Reports)
Internal strategy briefings, meeting notes, quarterly reports, and internal event schedules updated by the Leadership Council.