ACORN: Disbanded…or Rebranded?
April 2, 2010
To borrow from Mark Twain - the report of ACORN’s death has been grossly exaggerated.
Jonathan Strong, a reporter for Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel’s online news outet, The Daily Caller, reports that ACORN hasn’t disbanded afterall. Rather, it has simply rebranded itself and is conducting business as usual in communities across the country.
Citing a new report from California Congressman Darryl Issa, Strong writes:
“In California, ACORN transferred all its assets to Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE); Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut chapters have consolidated under the banner New England United for Justice – and so on. In each case, a group with the same assets and staff is operating at the same address with the same mission as the ACORN branch that once operated there.”
Issa’s report points out that by renaming its organization, ACORN will once again be free to start collecting tax-exempt contributions:
“‘Rebranding is an important legal strategy for ACORN to survive. By changing the names of its state and local affiliates, ACORN can rebuild its tax-exempt contributions under the guise of its superficially new and separate corporations as well as its public image,’ Issa’s report said.”
Strong’s article provides this new list of groups formerly-known-as ACORN:
- In California, ACORN is now the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (“ACCE”)
- In Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, ACORN is New England United for Justice.
- In New York, ACORN is New York Communities for Change.
- In Arkansas, ACORN has become Arkansas Community Organizations (“ACO”).
- In Louisiana, ACORN is “A Community Voice”.
- In Missouri, ACORN is Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (“MORE”).
- In Washington state, ACORN is Organization United for Reform (“OUR”) Washington.
- In Minnesota, ACORN is Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change.
- In Pennsylvania, ACORN has become the Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change (“PCOC”) and Pennsylvania Neighborhoods for Social Justice, Inc.
- In Texas, ACORN is now the Texas Organizing Project.
- ACORN Housing Corporation (“AHC”) has renamed itself Affordable Housing Centers of America, Inc.