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".
Greenville, Mississippi In the ongoing conservative war against the poor, welfare or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) spending was converted to a block grant program, allowing states, purportedly, to design their own best practices and programs. In many ideologically based, conservative dominated southern and up-north states, block grants allowed them to reduce or curtail …
Greenville Some months ago I was reading about the demise of a significant social service and advocacy organization. A former executive director, David Tobis, who had also written a book about the organization and was one of its founders was quoted saying, “Movements start, they rise, they have influence and then they abate. Parents are …
New Orleans Something very surprising, and I think very important, is happening about attitudes about welfare. Finally! Unfortunately, it’s happening in the United Kingdom, rather than in the United States, but let’s take the wins where we find them, because there are lessons there that politicians and policy makers need to heed about the limits …
Hamilton The ACORN Canada board and annual general meeting was in full force before the biennial convention was scheduled to begin in Hamilton, Ontario. Hamilton is a former steel-making, industrial city along Lake Ontario, roughly midway between Toronto, the queen city of Canada, and Buffalo, New York. Hamilton is having a revival of sorts, but that …
New Orleans Other countries are increasingly getting the message: the poor need cash. It’s not enough in the lowest income categories to stake a claim on education, training, or jobs, especially low paying jobs inadequate to support families. Africa’s Tanzania’s welfare scheme is called the Productive Social Safety Net and provides at about $13 …