Putting Lipstick on the Pig!

What do you do when you are a huge national organization with a highly recognizable name and you find yourself rightfully accused of crime, deception, and immoral acts? It’s simple; you just change your name, go on about your business, and continue on the same path. This is the situation with ACORN. Some functions of the national organization and many of the state affiliates have taken that action to dis-associate with the well-earned bad reputation of the original organization.

At the national level, ACORN Housing Corp., Inc. has become “Affordable Housing Centers of America, Inc... The original which was largely responsible for the current housing market crisis is currently under investigation by HUD.

At the state level, we find the following equivalents:

AR – Arkansas Community Organizations

CA – Alliance of Californian’s for Community Empowerment (ACCE)

CT, MA, RI – New England United for Justice

LA – A Community Voice

MN – Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change

MO – Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE)

NY – New York Communities for Change

PA – Pennsylvania Neighborhoods for Social Justice and Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change

TX – Texas Organizing Project

WA – Organization United for Reform (OUR) Washington

There are a dozen states (AZ, CO, DE, FL, MI, NV, NJ, NM, NC, OH, SC, & TN) which have not as yet managed to come up with a new name.

Through it all, Project Vote, American Institute for Social Justice and Acorn Institute have not bothered with a name change at the national level.

I would suggest, to avoid confusion, that the list be carefully reviewed and in some cases committed to memory to avoid the fallacious thinking that their high sounding names are now attached to a legitimate organization. A new name is insufficient to wash away the past sins of these organizations.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon