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".
London, Ontario Initiated referendums and recall petitions were some of the great reforms of the Progressive Era in the United States one-hundred years ago. In some states and many cities, these reforms have lasted since then, even if rarely used, offering some measure of accountability by citizens to protect themselves from malfeasance or abuse. …
New Orleans ACORN had one-crew on the ground in metro Atlanta in the get-out-the-vote effort for the recent Senate election, recruited largely from Pennsylvania by longtime organizer and Pittsburgh activist and music aficionado, Maryellen Deckard. They were revisiting the turf we had hit two-years ago in the special runoff election to culminate the …
New Orleans Listening to ACORN members on their weekly conference calls during the pandemic, one of the hardest balancing acts centered on the rent freeze. Don’t get me wrong, the rental freeze was a good thing. People couldn’t work. There was more month than money. Tenants were already under pressure across the country …