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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (164801)	3/20/2010 5:43:01 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

“That 20-minute video ruined 40 years of good work,” said Sonja Merchant-Jones, former co-chairwoman of Acorn’s Maryland chapter. “But if the organization had confronted its own internal problems, it might not have been taken down so easily.” The national organization’s housing affiliate, long one of the best-financed offshoots, has been hit especially hard. The group, which changed its name to the Affordable Housing Centers of America this year, now has 17 offices, down from 29 a year ago. The housing group’s annual budget has dropped to $6 million this year, down from $24 million last year. Some of Acorn’s state chapters have tried to remake themselves in recent months. Calls to Acorn’s New York City offices, for example, are now met with a recording that says: “Acorn is not providing services in New York. If you’re interested in hearing from local organizations with similar purposes, please press zero.” The New York chapter has been replaced by a new group, called New York Communities for Change, whose Web site promotes many of Acorn’s goals and many of whose staff and community members are the same. In Pittsburgh, Acorn officials said they were trying to continue work while they decided whether to stay with the national organization or form a new one. Maryellen Hayden, the volunteer director of Allegheny County’s Acorn, said the group was continuing to counsel people facing foreclosure and had recently sent two buses with dozens of members to Washington to rally for the Democratic health care bill. Many former Acorn staff members and beneficiaries of its work say that while the group was its own worst enemy in many ways, it was also one of the most consistent advocates for the poor. Acorn’s sudden demise, supporters say, has left a vacuum in services for communities that used to rely on it for free advice on employment, tax and loan matters.