WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
New Orleans Recently I was surprised to find that tenants in Maryland were legally able under certain conditions to withhold their rent to force their landlords to make repairs by following certain procedures. Living and working in red states in the South and elsewhere for so long had “blinded me to the light” …
Cleveland As privacy equity and deep pockets buy up tranches of housing throughout the country and endless LLCs hide the ownership of tens of thousands of housing units where tenants are organizing to demand accountability a huge obstacle is often finding a target to address the issues responsibly when the ownership is God knows …
Philadelphia We were looking forward to seeing the progress ACORN’s affiliate, Progressive Maryland, was making by employing our organizing model since early in 2026. Craig Robbins, ACORN’s Field Coordinator, had worked with PM leadership to help hire and train five organizers and put them into organizing drives. The field staff had hardened at …