Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now

Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now
Name	Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now
Founded	1970s
Founder	Wade Rathke
Type	Nonprofit
Headquarters	New Orleans, Louisiana
Area served	United States
Focus	Community organizing, neighborhood advocacy, tenant rights

Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now is a grassroots community organizing network founded in the United States that gained prominence for tenant organizing, voter registration drives, and neighborhood advocacy. The organization became notable for its confrontational tactics and rapid expansion through chapters in urban and rural areas, intersecting with figures and institutions in American civil rights, labor, and electoral politics. Its activities drew attention from media outlets, elected officials, union leaders, and law firms across multiple states.

History

The organization emerged during the 1970s and 1980s alongside movements led by activists associated with Wade Rathke, Cesar Chavez, Dorothy Day, Saul Alinsky, Martin Luther King Jr. and Theodore Roosevelt-era municipal reforms. Early campaigns emphasized tenant unions in cities such as New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York City, where work intersected with local groups like Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, and neighborhood associations. National exposure grew in the 1990s during voter registration efforts that drew comparisons with civic projects by Jimmy Carter initiatives and controversial episodes involving municipal officials in Miami and Phoenix. The organization expanded to hundreds of chapters, affiliating with community leaders who had previously worked with entities such as National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and ACLU affiliates.

Organization and Structure

Chapters operated with a decentralized model influenced by organizer training methods used by Industrial Areas Foundation, Citizens UK, and other Alinsky-influenced networks. Leadership roles were held by local directors, field organizers, and community volunteers who coordinated with regional offices in metropolitan areas including Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco, and Seattle. Funding streams combined membership dues, small-donor fundraising, foundation grants from organizations like Ford Foundation and MacArthur Foundation, and contracts with local agencies; the network also engaged with labor partners such as International Brotherhood of Teamsters and advocacy coalitions including United We Dream and faith-based organizations like Catholic Charities USA. Governance structures incorporated boards at chapter and national levels and used training curricula comparable to programs at Harvard Kennedy School and organizing institutes associated with University of Chicago.

Programs and Campaigns

Programs included tenant rights campaigns, predatory lending resistance, community reinvestment advocacy, voter registration, and public housing tenant organizing, often coordinated with legal advocacy by firms linked to NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and public interest law centers. Campaigns targeted institutions such as Federal Reserve System-influenced banks under the Community Reinvestment Act framework, mortgage servicers implicated by investigations led by offices like those of state attorneys general in California and New York (state). High-profile campaigns confronted developers in municipalities governed by mayors such as Rudy Giuliani and Richard M. Daley, challenged housing authorities like New York City Housing Authority, and engaged with federal programs including Department of Housing and Urban Development initiatives. Voter mobilization efforts paralleled operations undertaken by political organizations connected to figures such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during primary seasons.

Political Activities and Controversies

Political activity encompassed endorsements, ballot initiative campaigns, and get-out-the-vote efforts that created friction with elected officials, party organizations, and law enforcement agencies including municipal police departments and county prosecutors. Controversies involved allegations of aggressive tactics during demonstrations that prompted scrutiny from media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and broadcast networks CNN and Fox News. Internal disputes over finances and leadership led to inquiries involving local tax authorities and nonprofit regulators in states such as Louisiana and Mississippi, attracting oversight attention comparable to probes conducted into other activist nonprofits and prompting coverage in magazines like The New Republic and Mother Jones. Relations with labor unions and politicians sometimes fractured over endorsements and strategic priorities, with debates echoing disputes seen between AFL–CIO affiliates and independent community coalitions.

Impact and Criticism

Supporters credited the organization with measurable gains in tenant protections, successful pressure campaigns against predatory lenders, and the mobilization of low-income voters in municipal and congressional districts represented by lawmakers such as Sherrod Brown and Cory Booker. Critics accused chapters of employing confrontational tactics that alienated potential allies, mismanaging resources, and engaging in partisan behavior that blurred lines with groups like MoveOn.org and party-affiliated political action committees. Academic analyses in journals tied to institutions such as Princeton University and University of California, Berkeley examined the organization’s efficacy compared with models advanced by Catholic Worker Movement-inspired groups and faith-based organizers like Sojourners. Legal challenges tested charitable status rules used by state regulators and courts in disputes reminiscent of cases involving Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and other faith-affiliated nonprofits.

Legacy and Influence on Community Organizing

The organization’s legacy persists in contemporary community organizing practices through training methods, rapid chapter expansion strategies, and coalition-building approaches adopted by networks including Movement for Black Lives, Black Lives Matter, Indivisible (organization), and faith-based action groups. Alumni of its chapters have become organizers, elected officials, and staffers in institutions such as Congress, state legislatures, city councils of New Orleans and Chicago, nonprofits funded by Open Society Foundations, and labor campaigns led by SEIU. Debates it provoked about tactic selection, nonprofit governance, and political engagement continue to inform scholarship at centers like Brookings Institution and Urban Institute and practice among contemporary organizers working on housing, voting rights, and financial reform.

Category:Community organizing in the United States