Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is a left-wing community-based organization that advocates for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. They, along with a number of other community unions, are affiliated under ACORN International.<ref name="PP"/>

Organization

In the US, ACORN was composed of a number of legally distinct nonprofit entities and affiliates including a nationwide umbrella organization established as a 501(c)(4) that performed lobbying; local chapters established as 501(c)(3) nonpartisan charities; and the national nonprofit and nonstock organization, ACORN Housing Corporation. ACORN's priorities included: better housing and wages for the poor, more community development investment from banks and governments, better public schools, labor-oriented causes and social justice issues. ACORN pursued these goals through demonstrations, negotiation, lobbying for legislation, and voter participation.<ref name=r8144>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Unlike in the US, ACORN groups in other countries have little organizational funding.<ref name="PP"/> Under the ACORN model, most members are volunteers. Employed union organizers come from those working in local ACORN campaigns rather than from existing organizations and are paid a low wage.<ref name="PP"/> The union works on local and national level campaigns.<ref name="PP"/>

History

Template:Further Founded in 1970 by Wade Rathke and Gary Delgado,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> at its peak ACORN had over 500,000 members and more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in over 100 cities across the U.S.<ref name=csm>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="about-acorn">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2002, ACORN International was created to aid the spread of ACORN's model to other countries.<ref name=":1" /> There are currently ACORN affiliates in Cameroon, Canada, Czech Republic, England,<ref name="AGMT">A. Gilchrist and M. Taylor, The Short Guide to Community Development 2nd edn (Bristol: Policy Press, 2016)</ref> France,<ref name="JT">J. Talpin, 'The Americanization of French social movements? Community organizing and its discontents in the banlieues' (29/06/17) on metropolitics.org</ref> Honduras, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Peru, Scotland,<ref name="PS">P. Smythe, 'Housing will be the basis for all change in our country': an interview with Living Rent' (29/04/20) in The Student</ref> Tunisia, United States, and Wales.<ref name="AGMT" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Financial Mismanagement and Embezzlement Scandal

In 2008, it was revealed that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from the organization between 1999 and 2000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Instead of reporting the theft to law enforcement, ACORN’s leadership arranged a private restitution deal, allowing Rathke to repay the funds quietly while remaining employed at an ACORN affiliate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The cover-up sparked backlash from donors, including the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) and the Bank of America Foundation, both of which withdrew financial support from ACORN in response to the scandal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The loss of funding weakened the organization significantly, contributing to its eventual dissolution.

ACORN suffered a damaging nationwide controversy in the fall of 2009 after James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles secretly made, edited and released videos of interactions with low-level ACORN personnel in several of their offices, leading to several investigations by state officials that concluded the videos were inaccurately portraying the personnel as encouraging criminal behavior.<ref name=":0">California AG Determines ACORN Broke No Criminal Laws Template:Webarchive FOX News; April 1, 2010</ref><ref name=":2">"ACORN Workers Cleared Of Illegality By Outside Probe"</ref><ref name=":3">"ACORN and the Ethics of Leadership", Atlantic Monthly, December 8, 2009</ref><ref name=":4">ACORN Investigation Results Template:Webarchive, The Nonprofit Quarterly</ref><ref name="nymag1">"Damaging Brooklyn ACORN Sting Video Ruled 'Heavily Edited' – No Charges to Be Filed", New York Magazine; March 2, 2010</ref><ref name="NYT2010Newman">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Salon2010Madden">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The organization didn't recover from the negative publicity in the US and dissolved,<ref name=bankruptcy>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=foxnewsvideo>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=cbs>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=acornfolds>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":5">ACORN filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy; Los Angeles Times; November 2, 2010</ref> with ACORN members and organizers forming new organizations such as the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action.<ref name=ACCE>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref name="jsonline.com">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=bankruptcy/> ACORN groups outside of the US continued unaffected. ACORN, under ACORN International, still works within the US through its Home Savers Campaign, for example.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Issues and actions

Predatory lending and affordable housing

Template:Sidebar with collapsible listsACORN investigated complaints against companies accused of predatory lending practices. ACORN also worked to support strict state laws against predatory practices, organized against foreclosure rescue scams, and steered borrowers toward loan counseling;<ref name="ACORN_2003"/> Following a three-year campaign, Household International (now owned by HSBC Holdings and renamed HSBC Finance Corporation), one of the largest subprime lenders in the country, and ACORN announced on November 25, 2003, a proposed settlement of a 2002 national class-action lawsuit brought by ACORN. The settlement created a $72 million foreclosure avoidance program to provide relief to household borrowers who were at risk of losing their homes.<ref name="ACORN_2003">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The settlement came on the heels of an earlier $484 million settlement between Household, Attorneys General, and bank regulators from all 50 U.S. states.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Voter registration

Since the 1980s, ACORN conducted large-scale voter registration drives,<ref>Christopher Hayes, The Nation, September 1, 2008, Obama's Voter-registration Drive</ref> focusing primarily on registering poor and minority citizens.<ref name="APMud">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="MiamiFuror">"Furor over ACORN allegations gaining momentum" Miami Herald, 2008-10-24. Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Education

In 2001, ACORN opposed the privatization of some New York City schools, favoring its own Charter School plan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Gun control

In 2006, ACORN intervened on behalf of Jersey City, New Jersey, in a lawsuit brought against the city challenging a local ordinance that limited individuals' handgun purchases to one gun a month.<ref name=toutant>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Hudson County Superior Court struck down the ordinance on the grounds that it violated the New Jersey Constitution's Equal Protection clause, and a state statute prohibiting towns and municipalities from enacting firearms legislation.<ref name=toutant/> On September 29, 2008, the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division denied ACORN's appeal of the Hudson County Superior Court's decision striking down Jersey City's ordinance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>

Home Defender Program

In 2009, ACORN advocated allowing homeowners delinquent in their mortgage payments to remain in their homes pending a government solution to the housing foreclosure crisis. ACORN introduced a program called the Home Defender Program, intended to mobilize people to congregate at homes faced with foreclosure to "defend a family's right to stay in their homes."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Legal issues

In a 2007 case in Washington state, in which seven temporary employees of ACORN were charged with submitting fraudulent voter registrations, ACORN agreed to pay King County $25,000 for its investigative costs and acknowledged that the national organization could be subject to criminal prosecution if fraud occurred.<ref name="SeattleTimes1" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Vote Sign-up Fraud Probed; Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, August 7, 2008</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 2009, six ACORN employees in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to charges of a combined total of 51 counts of forgery and other violations while registering voters during the 2008 election cycle.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

During the 2008 election season, ACORN gathered over 1.3 million voter registration forms in 21 states. Project Vote estimated that 400,000 registrations collected by ACORN were ultimately rejected, the vast majority for being duplicate registrations submitted by citizens. Project Vote estimated that only a few percent of registrations were fraudulent, based on past years and samples from some drives in 2008.<ref name="NYTTally">Template:Cite news</ref> Project Vote estimated that 450,000 of the registrations collected by ACORN represented first-time voters, while the remainder were address changes submitted by citizens updating their addresses.<ref name="NYTTally" />

ACORN has fired employees for fraudulent registration practices and turned them over to authorities.<ref name="KC_MO">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="SeattleTimes1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NYTIssues">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Sheffield, Reggie. "Former temp worker accused of bogus registrations" Template:Webarchive, The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Penn.), July 24, 2008</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Of 26,513 registrations submitted by ACORN over a nine-month period in San Diego County, California, 4,655 were initially flagged, but 2,806 of those were later validated. County officials said this resulted in a 7% error rate by ACORN, compared to usually less than 5% for voter drives by other organizations.<ref name="san_diego_county">Template:Cite news</ref>

In plea deals in a 2009 Las Vegas case, former ACORN field director Amy Busefink and ACORN official Christopher Edwards pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters," in connection with a quota system for paid registration staff.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Edwards was sentenced to a year's probation and agreed to testify for prosecutors in charges against ACORN and against Busefink. Busefink appealed her case to the Nevada Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of the statute.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="lvrj.com">ACORN pleads guilty to felony compensation for registration of voters; Las Vegas Journal-Review; April 6, 2011</ref> In April 2011, ACORN entered a guilty plea to one count of felony compensation for registration of voters, for which they were fined $5,000,<ref name="Fined">Template:Cite news</ref> but did not concede that the law was constitutional.<ref name="lvrj.com" />

ACORN International

ACORN International was created in 2002<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> as an offshoot of ACORN USA to aid the spread of ACORN's model to other countries,<ref name="PP">D. Beck and R. Purcell (2013). International Community Organising. Bristol: Policy Press.</ref> including Argentina, Canada, Mexico, and Peru.<ref name="WDAD">Template:Citation</ref> The first ACORN branch in the UK opened in Bristol in 2014 by three people, two of whom were graduates of the Community Organisers programme.<ref name="AGMT"/>

Other groups are affiliated with ACORN International: for example, Living Rent in Scotland<ref name="PS"/> and Alliance Citoyenne in France.<ref name="JT"/>

ACORN Canada

ACORN Canada was founded in 2004 and has chapters across the country.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The national organization has led campaigns for more affordable internet access,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> caps on grocery prices,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> caps on banking fees,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and tenants issues.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy
• History of ACORN in the United States

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
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• Acorn and the Firestorm (2018). New York: First Run Features. A documentary film written and directed by Sam Pollard and Reuben Atlas.

External links

• ACORN International - with information about ACORN branches in various countries