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ACORN Shutting Down - Bankrupt non-profit closing operations

by Sudha Krishna | March 22, 2010 at 01:33 pm

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ACORN closing down: Scandal and Cuts force once might non-profit into bankruptcy

It is official the beleaguered non-profit ACORN is shutting down, forcing into bankruptcy after a highly public scandal and subsequent cuts its funding.

Issues surround the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) surfaced in the 2006 mid-term elections and involved Kansas City ACORN employees and voter registration fraud. More recently, ACORN being the focus of a story involving ACORN employees providing advice to a prostitute and pimp on jobs and tax avoidance. This prompted Congress to cut ACORN's funding which clearly helped hasten demise of the once might non-profit.

The ACORN Association Board met on Sunday March 21 and approved a set of steps to responsibly manage the process of bringing its operations to a close over the coming months. These include:

Closing ACORN's remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1st; and Developing a plan to resolve all outstanding debts, obligations and other issues. ACORN's members have a great deal to be proud of--from promoting to homeownership to helping rebuild New Orleans, from raising wages to winning safer streets, from training community leaders to promoting voter participation--ACORN members have worked hard to create stronger to communities, a more inclusive democracy, and a more just nation.

ACORN first started in 1970 and grew to include 1200 local community chapters with 400 thousand members in 100 cities across the United States, Canada, Argentina, Mexico and Peru.Its main mission was to provide

ACORN's priorities have included: better housing and wages for the poor, more community development investment from banks and governments, better public schools, and other social justice issues. ACORN pursues these goals through demonstration, negotiation, lobbying for legislation, and voter participation.[7]