In 2008, the Arlington (VA) Links Chapter through a grant from The Links, Incorporated and the American Heart Association, started a Heart Truth Program. The goal was to educate women of color in the Arlington, VA community about Heart Disease. This program laid the foundation for what became the Arlington (VA) Links’ Red Dress Event which attracted 50 attendees that same year on National Wear Red Day. Now the community event has taken on a new direction.
 
Joined together in a partnership with Links Chapters across Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland (DMV) annually for greater scale, reach and impact, Red Dress has become the largest event of its kind in the region. Over the past five years (2018-2022), thousands of women (and men) from the DMV community and beyond have come out in red on National Wear Red Day ready to eradicate the #1 killer among women…Heart Disease/Stroke.