Grace Diaz, the first Dominican female elected to statewide office in US history, flew to Santo Domingo for the holidays shortly after being sworn in at the Rhode Island State House in Providence, Rhode Island on 4 January. In an interview with El Caribe, the new Democrat representative for District 11 of Providence commented on her work as administrator of the day care center Teddy Bears Under the Rainbow, one of 1,400 authorized to operate in Rhode Island. She commented, that Dominicans operate more than 900 of these small businesses that care for eight to 16 children at a time. The newspaper highlights that day care businesses appear to becoming a Dominican business claim, such as are beauty salons and the bodegas.
She highlighted that as a legislator she will seek to promote that immigrants whose status is under review be able to obtain their drivers license. She urged that Dominicans that migrate to the US do so with the mindset of staying permanently so that they may concentrate their efforts on moving ahead in that nation. Many Dominicans see their stay in the US as temporary, despite the return getting postponed for years and years. The legislator urged Dominicans who migrate to pursue the American dream. She said that she has 15 years living in the US where she arrived when she was 30 years old. She is divorced and the mother of five children. She said when she first arrived she stayed with a friend and worked at three jobs at the same time: cashier in a restaurant, operator in a computer parts factory and bartender in a discotheque in order to make ends meet. When she received her US citizenship in 1996, she went to work for the Vets Hospital in Rhode Island after studying to be a nurse at the Community College of Rhode Island.
While assisting women to set up their own business, she got involved in politics. In the November 2004 election, she became one of seven Dominicans to be elected in the US and Puerto Rico. She had political experience in the DR, having been one of the many secretaries of PRD leader Jose Francisco Pena Gomez when he was Mayor of Santo Domingo (1982-86). She said she learned the importance of treating people well.