Jennifer Lima

President and Founder of Transformative Action for North Kingstown (TANK) • (she/her)

TankRI.org

Tell us about yourself, your connection to Rhode Island, and your work.

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, but I’ve lived in North Kingstown for the past 33 years. In 2020, I founded a nonprofit called TANK – Toward an Anti-Racist North Kingstown, and our main focus was advocating for anti-racist reform in the school district. This year, we changed our name to TANK – Transformative Action for North Kingstown, to reflect that our work has expanded to include advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant justice, and combating all forms of discrimination.

What’s your motivation for doing this work?

The summer of 2020 forced me to think long and hard about what specifically I was doing to effect positive change in our world. My husband and I tell our kids to get involved, get out there, be the change they wish to see in the world, but how could I expect my children to do those things if I was sitting on the sofa?  So, I started reaching out and connecting with others who wanted to make change right here where we live. It’s my belief that it’s just as, if not more important, to do this work in predominantly white communities like North Kingstown where inequities are often dismissed because they’re not always visible to everyone. If even one person pauses and thinks, “Just because it hasn’t happened to me doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” that matters.

In what ways do you hope to leave an impact on the Ocean State in the coming year?

By bringing in speakers, sharing resources, connecting people to one another, and encouraging engagement with local policy. Small shifts add up.

What challenges do you anticipate having to overcome to achieve these goals?

There is a growing push at the federal level to strip words like diversity, equity, and inclusion from our shared vocabulary. Despite what some would have you believe, these aren’t “dirty” words. But they’ve become such lightning rods that schools, organizations, and even corporations are becoming hesitant to support anything that uses the language. DEI is about identifying and removing barriers to opportunity so that everyone can participate fully, not just those who have always been able to.

What’s your reason for optimism approaching 2026?

Because you have to be. As Mariame Kaba [American organizer, educator, archivist and curator] says, hope is a discipline. You can choose to focus on the obstacles, or you can choose to focus on the times when you have made an impact. And I’ve seen what’s possible when people decide to show up for one another.

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