Finalist
Dreama J. Caldwell
Civic engagement and electoral organizing.
Dreama J. Caldwell is the co-director of Down Home North Carolina, a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering rural communities across the state. A native of Alamance County, Dreama grew up, attended school, and raised her children in the area she calls home. Before stepping into leadership at Down Home NC, she spent over two decades working in early childhood education and hospitality.
Dreama’s journey into activism began after a deeply personal and unjust encounter with the Alamance County criminal justice system. Joining Down Home NC as a member, she became a driving force within the Stop Criminalizing the Poor working group, helping to establish the Alamance Bail Fund. Her passion for justice and equity inspired her historic run for County Commissioner, where she became the first Black woman in the county to win a primary election.
Through her lived experiences, Dreama works tirelessly to uplift the voices of poor and working-class people, fight for racial justice, and build collective power in rural communities. Down Home NC continues to be her political home, fueling her commitment to creating meaningful change for those often overlooked and underestimated.
“The real leaders are the people who live in the community. So if we can give them the skills to be able to lead and organize in their community, this is how we build a bigger ‘we’—and our ultimate goal in the movement is to build a bigger ‘we’.”
By Dreama Caldwell and James L. VanHise
Building democracy from the ground up. A group empowering grassroots activists across North Carolina could help transform the rural political landscape
By James L. VanHise | Image via Down Home North Carolina
‘We don’t ever clock in and out of this work’ — Dreama Caldwell’s own encounters with inequity invigorated her passion for dissolving the barriers the working class faces
By Now This Impact | Made in collaboration with Galaxy Gives and REFORM Alliance.