WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
New Orleans We can answer the question of whether or not democracy can work for the poor, or we can ask why democracies are failing the poor? Either way, the answer is uncomfortable for many who would think the question is easy, but the question is serious, largely because democracies are in fact failing …
New Orleans I happened to be sitting next to Washington University professor Mark Rank on a post-Katrina panel at Tulane University a decade or so ago. In the intervening years Rank’s research into the real costs of poverty have become the benchmarks for assessment that the current political strategy for dealing with the poor is …
New Orleans Pope Francis isn’t perfect. None of them are. All the same, it’s hard not to root for the guy, give him an attaboy and hope he pushes the Catholic Church and its parishioners to demand more social justice and social change. The Pope issued something called an apostolic exhortation which is several degrees …
New Orleans Both major candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, seem to have concluded that, “What the heck, the poor don’t really vote, and the poor will always be with us, so later for them.” Speeches about the economy are silent on the issue of the richness of America contrasted with our level of poverty …
New Orleans It seems like cities are starting to get more attention, and if that’s true, that’s a good thing, but reading a recent special feature on cities, it’s not something without contradictions and concerns. This is true especially if you try to figure out where low-and-moderate income families and minorities fit into the coming …