Our mission

Our mission is to decrease the role and size of Delaware’s carceral and criminal legal systems and to innovate for fair and responsive government practices, using collaborative advocacy, education, and litigation.

Our Policy Priorities:

  • Eliminate court-imposed fines and fees that trap people in cycles of debt and punishment

  • End the criminalization of poverty by removing financial barriers to freedom and justice

  • Expand alternatives to incarceration that focus on restoration, support, and community well-being

  • Push for transparency and accountability in the justice system

  • Advocate for policies that center impacted people and invest in communities, not cages

Meet the Team

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Co-Founder/Executive Director

  • Co-Founder/Executive Director

    MDede@tideshiftjustice.org

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Associate Director

  • Associate Director

    KRichards@tideshiftjustice.org

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  • Co-Founder/Board Member

    LKielhorn@tideshiftjustice.org

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  • Board Member

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  • Board Member

  • Board Member

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  • Board Member

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  • Board Member

  • Board Member

    Rev. Rita Paige is the pastor of New Beginnings Community AME Church in Frederica, DE and formerly the pastor of Star Hill AME Church in Dover. This overlapped with a long career at the Delaware State Housing Authority as a Social Worker/Case Manager Supervisor (retired in 2020).

    Since her teenage years Rita has been an activist and strong leader in the community including the following roles:

     Member DE Conference Board of Examiners

     State of De Marijuana Commissioner

     Lake Forest Police Accountability Committee

     Member Central Branch NAACP and Women in NAACP

     Member Women in Ministry & 2025 First Episcopal District Honoree representing DE Conf. of the AME Churches

     Immediate past president and current vice president of the Dover

    District Ministerium of the AME Church

     Founder and Team Coordinator for Delaware Faith Registrars

     Member Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

     Member of the ACLU Clean Slate Committee

     Kent Coalition Chair/United Way for Vaccine Equity

     President Board of Directors of Dover Educational and Community Center

     Advisor for Women, Children, Transformational Ministries International

     Member of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Dover and Vicinity (IMA), former IMA Social Action Chair and chaired the committee to rename 3 streets after MLK in 2012

    Rita was born and raised in Delaware, graduating from Dover High School.

    She has a BA Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Howard University and a M.Div. Degree from Lutheran Theological Seminary. She is married and with three children and has three grandchildren.