Subject: Organizing

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    NHI’s John Atlas to Discuss New ACORN Book

    John Atlas, a founder of the National Housing Institute and Shelterforce, will appear today in the 1 p.m. hour (eastern) on WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show to discuss his new book, Seeds of Change: The Story of ACORN, America’s Most Controversial…

  • ACORN: The New York Times, Lies, and Videotape

    The New York Times hit ACORN with a one-two punch last weekend, making sure that the community organizing group—flattened by attacks from the right and withdrawal of funding from liberal foundations—stays knocked out. Both articles—Ian Urbana’s Saturday story, Acorn on…

  • ACORN Facing Significant Problems

    With state and local chapters of ACORN all over the country considering forming their own groups as the national organizing feels the effects of months and year of right wing political attacks and internal strife, it’s now being reported that…

  • Join Shelterforce, NHI, and Rooflines on Facebook!

    Do you dabble around on Facebook? Of course you do! So why not become a fan of the National Housing Institute for a streamlined, up-to-the-minute source of news, opinion, and resources from the go-to source for housing and community development?…

  • Court Rules That Congress Unfairly Singled Out ACORN

    A federal judge blocked U.S. officials from enforcing a funding ban on ACORN, one of Americas most effective anti-poverty groups. Congress cut off funding for ACORN—the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now—in September after a right wing Web sites…

  • A Small Victory for ACORN?

    There was some good news yesterday for ACORN, the 40-year-old, and largest grass-roots community organization in the country, as a federal judge ruled that the House ban on issuing federal grant money to the embattled organization was unconstitutional. The ban…

  • After the Politicking, Let’s Remember ACORN’s Vital Work

    ACORN has been falsely charged in the news media, by politicians, and even by some supporters. This was the point driven home by Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN (the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now), who gave a…

  • The War on ACORN

    The political and media war against ACORN continues. In an article published today on the Web site of Editor & Publisher, the well-known magazine about journalism and for journalists, Chris Martin and I ask, “Have the Media Falsely Framed ACORN?”…

  • ACORN Turns Up The Volume

    In September, when Congress voted to ban federal funds for ACORN, it was clear, if it hadn’t been already, that the organization had emerged as a political liability. ACORN had sustained right-wing attacks for years, but at this point, even…

  • The “Real Threat” of ACORN

    We’ve long said here that the right-wing attacks on ACORN are rooted in fear: fear of voter registration, fear of increased wages for working people, fear of empowering certain demographics, and so on. So it was good (well, not “good,”…

  • What Is ACORN?

    By now, most Americans have heard of ACORN. We know them as the national anti-poverty group, which uses community organizing to provide invaluable services to our communities, pressure powerful banks to provide home ownership opportunities for working people, fight to…

  • ACORN and the Media

    You might have seen Peter Dreier, NHI board member, and the director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College on Rachel Maddow the other night discussing the coverage of ACORN in the media: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking…

  • Roasting a Fire Under ACORN

    It’s September here in the Northeast and the acorns falling from the oak trees, including those from the Northern Red Oak, New Jersey’s state tree, cause a messy, but welcome sign that cooler temperatures are here, and fall is on…

  • Karl Rove v. ACORN

    Now we know that Karl Rove spearheaded the firing of David Iglesias, the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico who refused to follow the Bush White House’s orders to intimidate low-income voters by making false charges of “voter fraud.” What The…

  • Right Wing Taking Cues From Saul Alinsky?

    On his Comm-Org listserv, Randy Stoecker, a professor in the Community and Environmental Sociology department at the University of Wisconsin, talks about an emerging meme comparing the right wing activists’ recent disruptions of health care forums to “Alinsky’s tactics.” “I…

  • Community Organizing Going National?

    There are several things that I’ve been noticing out in the community organizing world that I find increasingly intriguing. I first noticed it over the past year with PICO’s push on national health care legislation. Now I am also noticing…

  • The Chicago Sit-in: Has Obama’s Election Spurred a New Mood of Union Activism?

    Editor’s Note: This article by Peter Dreier, NHI board member and professor of politics at Occidental College, first appeared in Dissent Magazine Two recent union victories may be harbingers of renewed worker activism. One came quickly in the wake of…

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    Chicago Factory Occupation Victory Is Only The Beginning

    In the past few days we’ve seen news of 3,500 jobs to be lost by the closing of U.S. Steel facilities in Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota; a fan factory laying off 164 workers in Wisconsin; and thousands of auto industry…

  • Community Stabilization: Are CDCs Up To The Task?

    Imagine that it’s hurricane season, and 150 Katrinas are pounding poor neighborhoods—and the federal government response is totally inadequate. The community development movement faces two challenges: first, that 30-plus years of solid, successful community revitalization work could be wiped out…

  • After Nov. 4: Bringing It All Back Home

    Interviewed on “The Takeaway” this morning, Emory University psychology professor Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain, had this to say about how President-elect Barack Obama can deliver on his promises to bring change we can believe in: ”...think like…

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