Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI)

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), formed in 1984, is a community-based planning and organizing group in the low-income Dudley area of Roxbury, Boston, home to 24,000 residents. To ensure community control, DSNI is governed by a 35-member Board of Directors, which includes 18 adult residents and 4 youth, and provides equal representation to the community’s four major cultures:  African American, Cape Verdean, Latino, and White.  The nonprofit works closely with Dudley Neighbors Incorporated (DNI), the community land trust it formed in 1988 to develop the neighborhood’s comprehensive plan.  DSNI currently has three strategic focuses:  community empowerment, sustainable economic development, and youth opportunities/development.