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".
Washington In the 1960s, citizen participation seemed to be coming to low-and-moderate income communities with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. Maximum feasible participation was a baseline requirement for local community action programs. In CAPs, one-third of the seats had to come from the lower income constituency, ostensibly being served by the programs. …
New Orleans Michael Kieschnick is a dear friend and colleague of mine over what may now be close to forty years. I first met him when we both served on the board of the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation under Drummond Pike. Our friendship was forged forever during a board retreat. I was skeptical …
New Orleans In the early and mid-1970s, ACORN and other citizen-based community organizations around the country were involved in one utility campaign after another with investor-owned companies. They were constantly asking for rate increases or were trying to build expensive, often coal-fired plants for speculated future demand. You name a state and a …