From little ACORNs, new state-level organizations grow

Nathan Henderson-James, director of ACORN’s online campaigns, explained the rebranding rollout on Townhouse, an invitation-only listserv run by Matt Stoller, senior policy adviser to Florida Democrat Rep. Alan Grayson.

ACORN will probably run out of money and fold by year’s end but a dozen ACORN state chapters reincorporated to seem like new, independent organizations will soon spring up to carry on ACORN’s business, he wrote.

There will be “a dozen or more organizations launched on the state level by staff who used to work for ACORN and leaders who developed their skills as ACORN members.”

Henderson-James described the rebrandings as “not just simple name changes, but reimaginings of how best to organize low and moderate income constitiuencies [sic] without any of the legal problems and funding issues dogging ACORN, not to mention the brand damage.”

ACORN veteran Marcel Reid, who also heads a reform group called ACORN 8, said in an interview after the Henderson-James e-mail surfaced that she doesn’t believe ACORN’s recent claims that the breakaway groups aren’t being controlled by ACORN.

“The folding of ACORN isn’t happening because it’s simply going to restructure,” she said. “In the meantime they’ll give all of these new community organizations in the states an opportunity to flourish without ACORN’s legal baggage.”

The other four ACORN chapters that have shed the ACORN name are Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, New York Communities for Change, New England United for Justice (Massachusetts) and Arkansas Community Organizations.

Incidentally, ACORN, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, was originally called Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now when it was founded in Little Rock in 1970.

All four groups operate out of ACORN offices and are run by ACORN staffers. The president of New England United for Justice, Maude Hurd, was the 20-year national president of ACORN, as the new group’s articles of incorporation show.

Instead of changing its legal status ACORN’s best-funded affiliate, the heavily tax-subsidized ACORN Housing Corp., has changed its name to Affordable Housing Centers of America Inc., which allows the entity to continue using AHC as an acronym.

ACORN Housing, which is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a key component of the far-flung ACORN empire of activism which has long used its housing affiliate as a piggy bank.

Although the congressionally chartered nonprofit NeighborWorks, which serves as a weigh station for HUD grants, is reportedly not setting aside any 2009 funds for ACORN Housing, in 2008 alone it awarded ACORN Housing $25 million in federal funding. In its tax returns ACORN Housing reported taking in just under $24 million in government funding from 1997 through 2007.

This federal funding is a concern for taxpayers because ACORN Housing funnels funds — possibly including government funds — to ACORN and other affiliates in the ACORN network. The network is known for its commingling of funds and it has used government resources previously for partisan political activity.

During the Clinton administration ACORN and ACORN Housing used AmeriCorps resources to give partisan speeches and assist the Clinton White House in preparing a press conference in support of legislation.

In 2007, when ACORN Housing reported taking in $5,205,527 from the government, it also made a $119,509 loan to ACORN. From 2000 to 2006, ACORN Housing also gave $3.8 million in grants to the American Institute for Social Justice, which trains budding young community organizers. If AISJ used the money for partisan activities, federal law may have been violated.