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Roll Up Your Sleeves

By Eastan McNeal on September 29, 2008 at 7:10 PM in ACORN, Current Affairs

I take it some of you have already seen some of the ACORN folks out. But did you know that while we are waiting for this great bail out that they are already rolling from the housing bill bull passed earlier this summer. Here is a little reminder from July.

The Wall Street Journal
July 31, 2008
Elizabeth Williamson and Brody Mullins

The housing bill signed Wednesday by President George W. Bush will provide a stream of billions of dollars for distressed homeowners and communities and the nonprofit groups that serve them.

One of the biggest likely beneficiaries, despite Republican objections: Acorn, a housing advocacy group that also helps lead ambitious voter-registration efforts benefiting Democrats.

Acorn — made up of several legally distinct groups under that name — has become an important player in the Democrats’ effort to win the White House. Its voter mobilization arm is co-managing a $15.9 million campaign with the group Project Vote to register 1.2 million low-income Hispanics and African-Americans, who are among those most likely to vote Democratic. Technically nonpartisan, the effort is one of the largest such voter-registration drives on record.

The organization’s main advocacy group lobbied hard for passage of the housing bill, which provides nearly $5 billion for affordable housing, financial counseling and mortgage restructuring for people and neighborhoods affected by the housing meltdown. A third Acorn arm, its housing corporation, does a large share of that work on the ground.

Acorn’s multiple roles show how two fronts of activism — housing for the poor and voter mobilization — have converged closely in this election year. The fortunes of both parties will hinge in part on their plans for addressing the fall of the nation’s housing market and the painful economic slowdown. Some of the places buffeted worst by mounting foreclosures are states whose voters could swing the election. Five battleground states where Acorn has registration drives were among the top 10 states for foreclosure rates as of June: Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Michigan and Ohio.

So it is time to roll up our sleeves and get to work for freedom. Later I will be publishing something everyone can take part in that could make a bit of “change.”