Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by LegCircus (talk | contribs) at 16:03, 31 August 2004. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Long NPOV

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the US's largest community organization of low and moderate-income families, with over 160,000 member families organized into 750 neighborhood chapters in more than 60 cities across the country. ACORN was founded by Chief Organizer Wade Rathke in 1970.

Some issues ACORN members push for are:

• cleaner and safer streets
• better public schools
• affordable housing
• living wage jobs
• immigrant rights
• professional police

ACORN groups win reform through direct actions, negotiations, working with the media, and, sometimes, by getting involved in electoral politics.

1970-1975: Roots of a social justice movement

The Sixties were an important time in the history of American politics. The decade witnessed struggles for freedom for low-income people and minorities across the nation as well as a war that deeply divided all Americans.

One of the groups that took risks, explored new ideas and developed a unique formula for a politics of justice in America was the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), led by George Wiley. Wiley developed and led the National Welfare Rights Organization in the mid-sixties to become a national force for the needs and rights of low-income people. By 1966, the NWRO had 170 groups in sixty cities across the nation. Despite the very real needs of its members, the NWRO was destined to remain a small minority with limited power in American politics unless it could build a network of friends and allies. When this reality became clear, Wiley began an experiment that would explore the possibilities of a larger constituency for economic justice. He sent Wade Rathke to Little Rock, Arkansas to apply his creativity to the problem.

When Rathke arrived in Little Rock in 1970, he began a campaign to help welfare recipients attain their basic needs – clothing and furniture. This drive, inspired by a clause in the Arkansas welfare laws, began the effort to create and sustain a social justice movement that would grow to become the Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now – ACORN.

The goal was to unite welfare recipients with working people in need around issues of free school lunches for schoolchildren, unemployed workers’ concerns, Vietnam Veterans’ rights and hospital emergency room care. Thus, an idea was born that would grow and adapt, thrive and flourish, and become a powerful movement from coast to coast.

Early growth

The broad vision of ACORN as a movement to unify the powerless in pursuit of economic justice was not shared by all the members. The inclusion of many groups in a single coalition came with costs. These costs, however, proved to be a necessary part of the struggle to become a force for social justice in America. In particular, many welfare rights members wanted a strictly welfare rights group and withdrew from the organization, fearing that they would lose control. After the split, the organization diversified further with the addition of the Vietnam Veterans Organizing Committee (VVOC) and the Unemployed Workers Organizing Committee (UWOC).

The following year, ACORN leaders organized a “Save the City” campaign in Little Rock. The campaign addressed blue-collar homeowner’s concerns that their neighborhoods were being destroyed by traffic problems in the Centennial section, and by real estate agencies who engaged in blockbusting in the Oak Forest section. ACORN members dealt with the traffic problems, the expressway intrusion, and blockbusting. ACORN, through the “Save the City” campaign, had established itself as a force in Arkansas politics.

ACORN began growing geographically as well. It organized outside of Little Rock, establishing six regional offices in the state. Campaigns were developed around issues of concern to small town and rural Arkansans and the foundations were laid for statewide campaigns. One of the ACORN’s major statewide targets was Arkansas Power and Light. AP&L’s plan to build a huge coal-burning power plant in White Bluff presented a danger to farmers in the area. Sulphur emissions threatened to destroy their fields unless something could be done. ACORN began organizing farmers on the issue.

The farmers, organized into the Protect Our Land Association and Save Health and Property, demanded a $50 million damage deposit against AP&L’s potential destruction of farmers’ fields. Then, ACORN groups applied pressure on Governor Dale Bumpers, and Harvard University, a stockholder in AP&L. These pressures resulted in a Harvard-financed study on the hazards of sulphur emissions and a Public Service Commission ruling to decrease the size of the plant by one half. As a result, AP&L dropped the plan altogether. ACORN proved that it could organize in any setting and that ACORN members could contend effectively with even the big corporate players.

Electoral campaigns

No political movement in America can be considered complete unless it is capable of mounting a significant election campaign. In 1972, ACORN made its first entry into electoral politics. ACORN’S first effort was a “Save the City Rally,” which all the candidates for the Little Rock City Board of Directors were invited to attend. Next, ACORN’S Political Action Committee decided to back two candidates for Little Rock School Board, Doug Stevens and Bill Hamilton. Stevens then did something no citywide candidate had ever done: he lost the wealthy 5th Ward but still won election to the Board. Buoyed by their success, ACORN members decided to go one step further and run for office themselves.

In 1974, ACORN members, joined by a group of International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union members, ran for seats on the Pulaski County Quorum Court. The Quorum Court, a legislature for the county that had 467 members and a few budget responsibilities, was not a well-known institution. Partially because few people were aware of its potential for promoting the interest and needs of low-and moderate-income citizens of Pulaski County, ACORN leaders seized the opportunity and ran a slate of candidates for the court. 250 candidates ran and 195 won. It was a clear victory, but, as often happens, political power holders resisted mightily.

Judge Mackey, County Judge and chair of the Quorum Court, fought ACORN’s efforts to exert citizen control of Pulaski County’s budget. First, he ruled that a dozen or so of the ACORN members were not qualified to serve. Then, when ACORN members tried to postpone full approval of the budget for two months, he miscounted the votes, manipulated the meeting and short circuited the democratic process. ACORN members responded by walking out in protest to deprive the body of a quorum. Nevertheless, Judge Mackey ignored the loss of a quorum and passed the budget. The budget skirmish was lost, but a valuable battle was won. For several years thereafter, the budget became a real working document and the Quorum Court was a genuine democratic body. Issues important to low- and moderate-income people could be heard in Pulaski County politics. ACORN had earned its wings in democratic electoral politics.

1975-1980: Growth of the movement

In 1975, ACORN became a multi-state organization with new branches in Texas and South Dakota. On December 13, sixty leaders from the three ACORN states elected the first associate Executive Board and the first ACORN president, Steve McDonald, to deal with matters beyond the scope of the individual city and state boards. Each year thereafter saw three or more states join ACORN with a total of twenty states in 1980. The great expansion of the organization led to multi-state campaigns beginning with a mass meeting of 1,000 members in Memphis in 1978. At the end of the conference, ACORN convention delegates marched on the Democratic Party conference with the basics of a nine-point “People’s Platform.” They demanded a meeting with President Carter but were only allowed to demonstrate in the street.

The following summer, July 1, 1979, ACORN’s second National Convention and Platform Conference was held in St. Louis. The purpose of the action was to refine the People’s Platform and to complete six months of discussions in ACORN organizations around the country about their visions for the future of the nation. The planks included positions on energy, health care, taxes, housing, community development, banking, jobs and income, rural issues, and representation. The issues addressed in the planks were all issues that local and state chapters of ACORN had addressed at one time or another in their communities.

After the convention passed the People’s Platform, two hundred of the 1,500 ACORN delegates marched to the suburban home of S. Lee Kling, the chair of President Carter’s campaign finance committee. They planted nine boards in Kling’s lawn labeled with the categories of the planks in the platform. This was followed by repeated and often successful attempts to present the People’s Platform to campaign aides and candidates from both parties, including Rosalynn Carter, Hamilton Jordan and Ted Kennedy. ACORN also presented their positions to the Republican Platform Committee in Detroit and to delegates individually and assembled in the state party conventions in ACORN states.

1980-1985: The Reagan era

This period witnessed dramatic changes in American politics and social life. ACORN also had its own concerns, especially the consolidation of its growth of the previous five years. For ACORN, this period would be one of adaptation, survival, internal consolidation and, surprisingly, growth.

ACORN’S staff was stretched thin by the demands of meeting the goal of expanding to twenty states by 1980. Much of its resources and energy had been dedicated to participating in the presidential primaries and national conventions of the Republican and Democratic Parties. ACORN now had to return to the work it had done to organize and cope with the changes occurring in American life with the election of Ronald Reagan.

ACORN launched a campaign to obtain affordable housing. Noting that economic upheaval had forced many people to default on mortgages, ACORN sought to place needy people in the resulting vacant homes. This required the forceful and illegal seizing of the properties – squatting.

The squatting campaigns involved personal, community and political dimensions. The personal needs of people without homes attracted many to advertisements ACORN placed in papers asking “Do you need a home?” The squatting campaign required a personal commitment to move into a vacant, usually poorly kept house and to refit it for comfortable living. It also involved the risk of arrest if local authorities refused them the legal occupation of the home.

The community response was strong as well. Vacant houses meant opportunities for rape, drug-dealing and arson. Residents of communities in which houses stood vacant wanted responsible neighbors to inhabit and maintain the homes. Before squatting sites were approved, neighborhood approval was obtained. Moreover, neighbors frequently participated in the entry and refitting of the houses. Squatting did not occur under cover of darkness. It was well publicized. This was a part of the political dimension of squatting. First, local officials had to agree not to evict or prosecute squatters. Second, ACORN attempted to legalize the act. Then, local officials were asked to subsidize the costs of squatting in an effort to improve the quality of life the squatters and their neighbors. Through these campaigns ACORN gained national exposure on housing issues and cemented its reputation as the leading authority on low-income community development.

Squatting was not ACORN’s only response to the Reagan assault on low- and moderate-income Americans. Fifteen thousand ACORN members and their allies established “Reagan Ranches” in over 35 cities to protest Reagan policies of massive military spending and meager social spending. Tent cities symbolizing the homelessness of Reagan’s policies created sprang up in city after city, including Washington, DC in June of 1982 in the shadow of the White House. The national action, lasting two days, met serious resistance from the National Parks Service who tried time and again to run ACORN tenters off the grounds. Despite harassment and intimidation, ACORN protesters held their ground, marched on the White House and testified before a Congressional committee about the housing crisis in America. The Republican Convention in Dallas in 1984 was the culminating Reagan Ranch. This protest and voter registration drive, which, despite extremely hot weather, involved 15,000 Dallas voters.

Organization building

Other, less noted, but still important, political developments also occurred during the 80s. ACORN learned the lessons of the Quorum Court and referenda issues in several states well. In many cities, for example, at-large elections made it easy for white and upper-income candidates to dominate city councils and other local governmental bodies. Cities with as much as 40% African-American populations would have few, if any, African-Americans serving. Representatives would come almost exclusively from the upper-income neighborhoods of the city. ACORN worked to rectify this arrangement in a number of places, including Pittsburgh, Columbia, S. Carolina, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota by changing the legislative bodies to district, rather than at-large, representation thereby creating opportunities for more democratic governance.

Internally, ACORN developed and strengthened their ACORN Political Action Committees (APACs). In every part of the ACORN realm, APACs honed their skills, developed clout and devised agendas for their members. They interviewed candidates for public office and endorsed good ones. They made decisions on how to urge their members to vote on referenda issues. They encouraged ACORN members to run for office and to move the ACORN agenda from the inside of the political system. Their goal was accountability to ACORN voters who supported political leaders and wanted good representation of their interests and goals. The big test for the APACs was the 1984 presidential election. While no one considered supporting the Republicans, questions arose as to which Democratic candidate to support for the nomination. ACORN leaders decided that the only way to pick a candidate for endorsement would be to get 75% support in polls among members. No candidate reached that level, though there was strong support for Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition. Seven local groups, however, supported Mr. Jackson in the primaries and won recognition, political ties and financial support for their efforts. More importantly, they gained valuable experience in the national political game and a reputation for being able to play it. ACORN also established a legislative office to coordinate national ACORN goals and to translate them into legislation at the national level. Working out of Washington, the office informed national leaders and media of ACORN’s agenda and sought allies for the organization. ACORN refined its political activities to get the greatest amount of impact through a coordination of effort, a sharing of experiences and lessons learned.

This period also marked a diversification of ACORN organizing. The United Labor Unions (ULU) became an effective labor organizing arm of ACORN. They organized homemakers in Boston and New Orleans, hotel workers in a number of cities and other challenging low-wage industries. These efforts also benefited ACORN by finding people outside of their neighborhoods and linking them to the ACORN network.

The early 80s was a trying time for ACORN organizing. As the needs of low- and moderate-income people increased, the means of serving those needs declined. The movement spirit of the 60s and 70s died away, making it hard to find organizers. The political elite callously ignored serious needs of he least well-off in society. People invested most of their time and energy in simply surviving. Despite hardship, ACORN grew to twenty-seven states, adding significant chapters in New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago, and strengthened its core while growing increasingly sophisticated and effective.

1985-1990: Maturity and the future

This period witnessed the maturity of ACORN in preparation for the 90s. The people and the organization they comprise -- 70,000 plus in twenty-eight states -- grew in size, numbers, and maturity. The original vision of the movement to win the power to control important decisions in American life for the majority continued to guide ACORN members and allies across the country. The up and down struggle over twenty years showed them the value of the struggle and the importance of winning; the process of the struggle built the means to reach the goal.

The work of ACORN required members, staff, leaders, money, skills, issues, conflict and organization. The supply of each of these had been scarce on a continuing basis since ACORN’s inception. They key to survival and growth was the continual effort to find and develop resources, or find ways to manage without them at least part of the time. This period demonstrated the organization’s ability to do just that. Through diversification and ingenuity, ACORN laid the foundations for an organization that can go into the 90s with confidence and enthusiasm. The key to this optimism was the shared dream and the value of the lessons learned and applied over twenty years.

Sharing the dream

The sharing of the dream began with the People’s Platform and grew as each newly organized neighborhood and member learned about the issues and solidarity of ACORN. The national conventions stirred members to greater commitment to ACORN goals. They grew by sharing actions and enthusiasms, whether marching on the Democrats in Philadelphia, S. Lee Kling’s home in Memphis, or the Republicans in Dallas. Working toward the shared goals defined in the People’s Platform helped connect the work in their neighborhoods with the overall national goal of justice for low- and moderate-income Americans.

ACORN’s decision to back the Rainbow Coalition and Jesse Jackson might have been a divisive action in many organizations. When it became clear that Mr. Jackson not only shared ACORN’s commitment to the People’s Platform but was able to work with ACORN and other progressive groups, however, the decision was easy. That summer, ACORN held its national convention in Atlanta along with the Democrats. ACORN had thirty Jackson delegates on the floor of the Democrat’s convention, led an inspiring march down Peachtree Street, and participated in actions and conventioneer. Members returned home sharing their insights and enthusiasm.

Also instrumental to sharing the dream was the development of the Affiliated Media Foundation Movement (AM/FM). Because ACORN recognized that mass electronic communication is essential to articulating and sharing a vision and could mobilize people in a large area quickly and effectively, they created AM/FM. Starting with station KNON in Dallas, they have begun the work of establishing radio stations, UHF television and cable television programming. Using creative news, entertainment and public affairs programs, ACORN informs, moves and recruits members and allies on important issues.

Lessons learned and applied

This period also witnessed a series of ideas that ACORN adopted to enhance its effectiveness: organizational alliances, electoral politics, national lobbying, diversification and the insiders’ power game. While the movement maintained its core commitments, it added some effective means to enhance its power, the bottom line in all efforts.

Electoral politics became a powerful weapon in the ACORN arsenal. While they were not new to ACORN’s work, they were first tried in 1972 and they were refined and institutionalized within ACORN. The work with the Rainbow Lobby was clear proof of ACORN’s electoral abilities. APAC work in local and national electoral politics paid off, not just in campaigns won but in influence wielded within parties or among voters. ACORN groups discovered the possibilities of getting candidates to see things their way before an election, pushing for turnout and support, and continuing to influence officeholders. They were even successful in electing members to offices in city councils, boards of education and, in Connecticut, the state legislature.

ACORN also developed the capacity to influence officeholders with whom they had not been involved in elections. The creation of the national office in Washington, DC made it possible to push ACORN issues at the federal level. Their work in pushing for funding of innovative community programs to prevent rape was one example of the possible connections to local and community ACORN efforts. The national lobbying arm of ACORN is only one example of the diversification within ACORN that was basic to its success. The ACORN Housing Corporation worked to create affordable housing in conjunction with banks and state and local government. The United Labor Unions, now Locals 100 and 880 of the Service Employees International Union, became labor organizing arms of ACORN which organize people where they work. ACORN Services, Inc. and the canvassing operations enhanced ACORN’s ability to create the financial resources needed to grow. The Arkansas Institute for Social Justice became the means for developing leadership skills and political talents among the ACORN members. What was once a relatively simple organization of community groups has become a diversified system of institutions capable of applying specialized skills to solving the kinds of problems ACORN encounters in its work.

Finally, ACORN began playing the insiders’ game in American politics. Congressional lobbying is practiced by ACORN staff. Leaders and members became a central part of the insiders’ games, too. Members elected to office or serving on APACs acquire experience and skill applying power from the inside of the political process. Instead of confronting opponents in actions (something ACORN will never stop doing), members could trade and negotiate from inside positions of power. ACORN’s work on the savings and loan bailout provided effective means of developing and applying power for low- and moderate-income people. ACORN members won appointment to the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) to help determine the management of the billions of dollars of assets the government seized. The payoff to these activities came, and still comes, when substantial numbers of ACORN members developed the ability to move inside the political sphere that has for so long been closed to low- and moderate-income people.

1990-1995: Opportunities and threats

The early nineties follows the building and consolidation of the previous five years. Working at all levels of politics and in every corner of the country, CORN has parlayed its building efforts into major victories. While some of ACORN’s most exciting efforts were in the area of housing, its victories also included health, public safety, education, representation, work and workers’ rights and communications concerns.

The 1990 ACORN convention in Chicago focused on the fast-breaking housing campaign. It featured a squatting demonstration at an RTC house which was reclaimed for use in an ACORN neighborhood. Later, ACORN members, in a spirited action on the U.S. League of Savings Institutions, demanded cooperation from banks about providing loan data on low- and moderate-income communities and compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act. The convention also included the ACORN Elected Official Conference which developed strategies for independent electoral organizations. The hard-hitting actions and long-term strategies would pay off in years to come.

The housing issue continued to heat up in 1991, when ACORN fought back against bank lobbyist efforts to gut the CRA. ACORN members staged a two-day takeover of the House Banking Committee hearing room to be sure their voices were heard by Congress. They stood in line overnight and took seats normally occupied by bank lobbyists. As a result, they won the Congressional vote to preserve the CRA in a power move that got national attention.

The national media also listened when ACORN identified and publicized lending discrimination by banks to lower-income and minority applicants for mortgages. Jack Kemp, Secretary of HUD under President Bush, listened too when ACORN persistently pursued him. As a result, ACORN won thousands of homes for low- and moderate-income people that the RTC had been auctioning to wealthy bidders before this important victory.

ACORN Housing Corporation, created to service people moving into homes under the housing campaign, rehabilitated hundreds of houses in low- and moderate-income communities around the country. Like many of ACORN’s campaigns, this clearly demonstrated the need for more investment in ACORN neighborhoods.

The ACORN convention in New York in 1992, the “ACORN-Bank Summit,” was organized to hammer out deals with giant banks like Continental, First Fidelity, Mellon, PriMerit, and Chemical. Representatives signed agreements to establish programs for low- and moderate-income people to qualify for mortgages in their communities. Citibank, the nation’s largest bank, did not participate. In response, the conventioneers held a lively action at Citibank’s downtown Manhattan headquarters, and won a meeting to negotiate for similar programs. The meeting also led to increased Fannie Mae and Freddie mac funding from the secondary mortgage market to Acorn neighborhoods. These efforts led to billions of dollars of primary and secondary mortgage money flowing into ACORN communities over a period of several years.

ACORN made major strides in the area of education, too. ACORN parents won victories in New York, creating the Rockaways new School and PS 245, and in Chicago, where they established the Nicholson and Mason 21 schools. These small schools were set up as partnerships between parents and teachers to serve the local communities and improve children’s education. Also in Chicago, ACORN members saved Dewey Elementary from closing twice ad won funding to rehabilitate it. Dewey now has some of the highest test scores in the Chicago school system.

Insider opportunities

With a Democratic President and Congress, the national government became more receptive to reforms promoting the political power of low- and moderate-income people. ACORN played an important role in the passage and implementation of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, or “Motor-Voter” Act. After its passage, ACORN members attended President Clinton’s signing ceremony.

The law itself was not enough to get the job done, however. ACORN follow-up required new registration laws in Arkansas and Massachusetts and lawsuits against governors who wouldn’t comply with the federal law in Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The potential political power of low- and moderate-income people all over the US got a big boost from ACORN efforts.

Democratic control of the federal government meant that ACORN had increased access to top officials with more sympathetic ears. ACORN members began regular meetings with Henry Cisneros, HUD Secretary under President Clinton, on a variety of issues. ACORN organizing began to include more tenant groups under the ACORN Tenant Union (ATU), and Cisneros was increasingly helpful.

In 1993, ACORN began a national campaign to fight insurance redlining, a practice that put the gains made in other housing campaigns at risk. Homeowners in low- and moderate-income communities could not get insurance or paid higher rates. The insurance redlining campaign targeted Allstate, hitting sales offices in fourteen cities and a stockholders meeting of Sears, Allstate’s parent company. Allstate agreed to negotiate and signed an agreement in 1994 for a $10 million partnership with ACORN and NationsBank for below-market mortgages to low-income homebuyers. Travelers Insurance came on board with a Neighborhood and Home Safety Program, linking access to insurance and lower rates to public safety programs. ACORN proved it could win whatever it took to ensure access to home ownership to low- and moderate-income people.

In 1994 the ACORN national convention, “Taking it to the Top,” was held in Washington, DC. Its goal was to meet with top governmental officials in the executive branch and Congress. Members met with Secretary of Education William Riley, Attorney General Janet Reno, Chair of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan, and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros. As Maude Hurd, President of the ACORN Association Board, put it, “Get ready for action, because while some things have changed, we still have many fights on our hands. From the White House to Capitol Hill to the biggest corporate lobbying groups, our voices will be heard.” ACORN voices were heard by members of Congress whom they lobbied on ACORN issues, and especially by Henry Cisneros, who agreed to prevent any HUD interference in ATU organizing. This supplied needed support for ATU work for proper maintenance services, operating appliances, fair representation and the right to organize in Texas, Illinois, Connecticut, Ohio, and New York.

1995 threats

In November 1994, the resurgence of the Republican Party in Congress dramatically changed the political picture for ACORN. It posed new threats to long-standing ACORN campaigns and meant a loss of support for ACORN initiatives. It was not, however, anything ACORN had not seen before. From its beginning, ACORN had fought against politicians who resisted their ideas and their work to build power for low- and moderate-income people.

External link

• ACORN
• ACORN housing
• ACORN Living Wage Resource Center

I created this text which is also posted at www.acorn.org and have licensed it under the GFDL for use on Misplaced Pages. --LegCircus 16:03, Aug 31, 2004 (UTC)

• Pages on votes for deletion
• Social Justice
• Civil Rights
• Political advocacy groups in the U.S.
• Organizations
• Consumer organizations