ACORN was the nation's largest community organization of low and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.  From 1970 to its end in 2010, ACORN had grown to more than 175,000 member families, organized in 850 neighborhood chapters in 75 cities across the U.S. and in cities in Canada, the Dominican Republic and Peru. 

ACORN's accomplishments included successful campaigns for better housing, schools, neighborhood safety, health care, job conditions, and more.  ACORN members would participate in local meetings and actively work on campaigns, elect leadership from the neighborhood level up, and pay the organization's core expenses through membership dues and grassroots fundraisers.

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Early Growth


The broad vision of ACORN as a movement to unify the powerless in pursuit of economic justice was not shared by all the members. The inclusion of many groups in a single coalition came with costs. These costs, however, proved to be a necessary part of the struggle to become a force for social justice in America. In particular, many welfare rights members wanted a strictly welfare rights group and withdrew from the organization, fearing that they would lose control. After the split, the organization diversified further with the addition of the Vietnam Veterans Organizing Committee (VVOC) and the Unemployed Workers Organizing Committee (UWOC). 

The following year, ACORN leaders organized a "Save the City" campaign in Little Rock. The campaign addressed blue- collar homeowners' concerns that their neighborhoods were being destroyed by traffic problems in the Centennial section, and by unscrupulous real estate agencies who engaged in blockbusting in the Oak Forest section. ACORN members dealt with the traffic problems (the Centennial neighborhood won a park and a stoplight to ensure the safety of their children), the expressway intrusion (families were relocated and provided other social services) and blockbusting (stopped in its tracks). ACORN, through the "Save the City" campaign, had established itself as a force in Arkansas politics. 

Electoral Campaigns

 

No political movement in America can be considered complete unless it is capable of mounting a significant election campaign. In 1972, ACORN made its first entry into electoral politics. ACORN's first effort was a "Save the City Rally," which all the candidates for Little Rock City Board of Directors were invited to attend. Next, ACORN's Political Action Committee decided to back two candidates for Little Rock School Board, Doug Stevens and Bill Hamilton. Stevens then did something no citywide candidate had ever done: he lost the wealthy 5th Ward but still won election to the Board. Buoyed by their success, ACORN members decided to go one step further and run for office themselves. 

In 1974, ACORN members, joined by a group of International Ladies' Garment Workers Union members, ran for seats on the Pulaski County Quorum Court. The Quorum Court, a legislature for the county that had 467 members and a few budget responsibilities, was not a well-known institution. Partially because few people were aware of its potential for promoting the interest and needs of low- and moderate-income citizens of Pulaski County, ACORN leaders seized the opportunity and ran a slate of candidates for the court. 250 candidates ran and 195 won. It was a clear victory, but, as often happens, political power holders resisted mightily. 

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