From Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62L5W320100322
Liberal group ACORN to formally disband
CHICAGO
Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:49pm EDT
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The liberal grass-roots group ACORN will formally disband on April 1 due to falling revenues, as its state chapters reorganize, the group said on Monday.
Most of the 20 chapters of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which endorsed President Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign, have disbanded on their own and reorganized under new names, a source within the group said....
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...112658930.html
Acorn Disbanding, Housing Offshoot to Remain
MARCH 23, 2010
By JAMES R. HAGERTY And BRODY MULLINS
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn, is disbanding, the community activist group said Monday.
The group long helped register low-income people to vote in ways that were widely viewed as helping Democrat candidates. But scandals in recent years sapped Acorn's credibility, making it an embarrassment for Democrats and a target for Republicans. Those scandals also made it hard for Acorn to raise money, prompting the decision to close down what was once a national organization.
A large offshoot formerly known as Acorn Housing, which counsels low-income homeowners, has changed its name to
Affordable Housing Centers of America and plans to continue operations, officials of that group said....
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...AZA6AD9EEVUT80
ACORN branches rename, rebrand after video scandal
By MICHAEL TARM (AP) – Mar 15, 2010
CHICAGO — Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal.
The letters A, C, O, R and N are coming off office doors from New York to California. Business cards are being reprinted. New signs with new names are popping up in front of offices.
The breakaways are trying to shed the scandal that emerged six months ago when videos showed some ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. But while their names are different, most groups have kept the same offices and staff.
That, critics say, means the groups really haven't started anew and severed all ties to ACORN, which faced accusations of mismanagement and rampant voter registration fraud well before the video brouhaha sent even longtime Democratic backers scattering....
A distinguishing feature of ACORN for years has been its complex web of affiliates, some of which shared money and manpower without ever assuming ACORN's name, said Frederick Hill, spokesman for Republicans on the U.S. House oversight and government reform committee.
"The idea that some ACORN organizations are trying to obscure who they really are should be troubling to Americans," he said.
A recent report on ACORN compiled by the House Republicans whom Hill represents describes ACORN as a "shell game" with a structure "designed to conceal illegal activities, to use taxpayer and tax-exempt dollars for partisan political purposes, and to distract investigators."
To credibly claim a clean break, argued Hill, the new groups should at least have hired directors from outside ACORN.
"But I can't tell you of a single example our committee has seen where we say, 'Geez, it really looks like they're purging all the individuals who are with national ACORN,'" he said....
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http://www.housingwatch.com/2010/03/...-new-identity/
ACORN Housing Sprouts New Identity
By Alyssa Katz Mar 18th 2010 @ 10:30AM
When the community organizing group ACORN fell to a notorious video sting last year by conservative activists posing as a "pimp" and a "ho," some of the biggest losers were thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure. Fortunately for them, ACORN's affiliated housing organization has returned under a new identity, as the
Affordable Housing Centers of America.
For the last 25 years, ACORN Housing Corporation, a spinoff from the main group, had been an important advocate for low-income homeowners. It ran mortgage borrower counseling services out of 33 offices from coast to coast, and homeowners benefited from the group's affiliation with ACORN, which successfully fought predatory lenders like Ameriquest when federal regulators refused to....