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 In Scotland, ACORN’s tenant union chants “The rent is bananas.” Affordable housing is a global issue. Some cities concoct schemes to maintain affordable housing and block second homes and Airbnbs, but most don’t. Few actually break ground for affordable apartment complexes or create equitable zoning rules to allow them. Minnesotans voted …
Pearl River One public health research report after another has nailed the facts that minority and lower income populations life expectancy is diminished by environmental pollution. Harvard’s School of Public Health says that the new tighter air pollution standards proposed by the EPA could “reduce mortality rates by up to 7 percent for Black …
Pearl River I approach so-called “opportunity indexes” with a heavy dose of skepticism, largely because I worry about an urban strategy that dilutes concern for the whole community by carving out islands for special treatment. This has been the bane of community development corporations, focusing on specific neighborhoods or areas, and, despite attracting …