FReep mail me if you want on/off the list.
Posted on 10/01/2009 3:01:14 PM PDT by Drango
October 1, 2009
ACORN, the troubled anti-poverty group, is fighting to survive in the aftermath of an undercover video scandal. Its government funding is threatened, and so is the money it receives from foundations and other donors.
ACORN is fighting back, but that is also draining resources.
ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis earlier this week made a simple plea in a letter to donors: "We need your help to survive."
Lewis said in an interview that she thinks her 40-year-old organization will survive, but she's worried about what fighting the charges that ACORN is a corrupt organization will do to resources for its other programs — such as helping low- and moderate-income people fight home foreclosures.
"And so we need different funding, some extra funding, in order to fight back," Lewis says. "Because, you know, they try to bury you with paper and answering one inquiry after another."
And the inquiries are mounting. Lawmakers have asked the Government Accountability Office, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service — just to name a few — to investigate ACORN. That's after undercover videos showed some of its workers advising a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to evade the law. ACORN has fired the workers and says it's cleaning up its act, but support continues to erode.
Several major funders told NPR that they've ended or are reassessing their ties with ACORN and its affiliates. The Ford Foundation gave almost $2 million in recent years, but says it has suspended ACORN funding because of concerns about inadequate financial controls.
The Marguerite Casey Foundation gave ACORN more than $4 million from 2003 to 2007. But spokeswoman Kathleen Baca says the grants are not being renewed, even though the foundation thinks ACORN has done some outstanding work for the poor.
"Part of our funding criteria is fiscal responsibility and a strong management structure. At this time, there are too many questions surrounding the management of ACORN and its finances for us to fund them," Baca says.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Bank of America and JPMorgan also say they've ceased making grants to ACORN and its affiliates.
But at least one foundation is bucking the tide.
The California Endowment says it's on the verge of approving a new $500,000 grant to ACORN to help low-income families access health care and other benefits.
"We feel pretty solid in our relationship with them, for one really specific reason — which is the standards that we've held all of our grantees to, ACORN has met," says Robert Phillips, the endowment's director of health and human services.
But it's unclear whether that will be enough.
Congress is also trying to stop millions of dollars in federal grants from going to ACORN and its affiliates — although that effort has run into its own set of problems. The Senate has approved a measure that specifically targets ACORN, which the Congressional Research Service says could violate the Constitution's prohibition against bills of attainder. The House has approved a broader ban, one that could have an unintended effect: It could block funding for many groups other than ACORN.
The House bill would prohibit funds for any organization that "has filed a fraudulent form with any federal or state regulatory agency." Danielle Brian, executive director of the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, says that means the ban could affect just about every major defense contractor in the nation.
"In some weird way, we think this could be fabulous, because they're all suddenly going to be swept into serious accountability, which is what we've been trying for years to accomplish," Brian says.
Brian says she thinks many of these defense contractors have done a lot worse than ACORN has. Still, it's ACORN that's on the chopping block right now.
ACORN hopes an independent review of its operations — to be completed this month — will be the first step in winning back some crucial support.
Casey believes that ACORN Housing Corporation has used the grants appropriately and has done good work by effectively counseling victims and potential victims of predatory lending and refinancing practices. The Casey Foundation ceased its grant making to ACORN in early 2009.
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Until we are satisfied that all issues have been resolved, we are suspending current commitments to ACORN Housing and will not enter into any further agreements with ACORN or any of its affiliates.
- Bank of America
Neither [ACORN’s] American Institute for Social Justice nor any of its affiliates are current grantees of the Mott Foundation. At this time, we do not have plans for future support to these organizations.
- C.S. Mott Foundation
FReep mail me if you want on/off the list.
“ACORN, the troubled anti-poverty group...”
####
My behind.
“ACORN, the well-funded racist, election-stealing, criminal,Democrat political-operative outfit.....”
I look for ACORN and its staff to emerge under another name when the heat dies down.
these sorry groups are what has held neighborhoods back for decades...
Sick perverts...
Why do they care about donations when taxpayers gave them 4.8 billion bucks recently.
“ACORN, the well-funded racist, election-stealing, criminal,Democrat political-operative outfit.....”
::::::
Exactly — they can run, but they cannot hide.
Polanski and all of his insufferable Hollywood pervert-supporters could easily return ACORN to solvency. Yeah, Harrison Ford, I'm calling YOU a child-rapist-by-proxy!
Board of Directors for The California Endowment
http://www.calendow.org/Article.aspx?id=138
Daniel Boggan
Chair of the Board
Biography
Retired, Senior Vice President
and Chief Operating Officer
National Collegiate Athletic Association
Alameda County
Tessie Guillermo
Vice Chair of the Board
Biography
President and Chief Executive Officer
ZeroDivide
San Francisco County
Robert K. Ross, M.D.
Biography
President and CEO
The California Endowment
Los Angeles County
Susan V. Berresford
Biography
Past President
Ford Foundation
Humboldt County
John E. Bryson
Biography
Chairman, President and CEO
Edison International
Los Angeles County
Jesse Casso Jr.
Biography
Casmar Capital Partners
Los Angeles County
Arthur Chen, M.D.
Biography
Chief Medical Officer
Alameda Alliance for Health
Alameda County
Stephen DeBerry
Biography
Chief Investment Officer
Kapor Capital
San Mateo County
Dean Germano
Biography
Chief Executive Officer
Shasta Community Health
Center
Shasta County
James Lewis Kyle II, M.D.
Biography
Vice President, Medical Affairs
St. Mary Medical Center
San Bernardino County
Maurice Lim Miller
Biography
Founder
The Family Independence Initiative
Alameda County
Hugo Morales
Biography
Founder and Executive Director
Radio Bilingue, Inc.
Fresno County
Rita Scardaci
Biography
Director
Sonoma County Department of Health Services
Sonoma County
Cynthia Ann Telles, Ph.D.
Biography
Director of the Spanish-Speaking Psychosocial Clinic of the Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital at the
UCLA School of Medicine
Los Angeles County
Fernando M. Torres-Gil, Ph.D.
Biography
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
UCLA School of Public Affairs Faculty, Public Policy and Social Welfare
Los Angeles County
Maria Tripp
Biography
Board Chair
United Indian Health Services, Inc.
Humboldt County
Winnie O. Willis, Sc.D.
Biography
Professor Emeritus
San Diego State University
School of Public Health
San Diego County
Time to drip, drip, drop some more videos. Choke them totally off.
ACORN, the troubled anti-poverty group
Yeah acorn is anti-poverty. Just anti poverty for themselves as they try to seperate hard working Americans from their money and tax dollars to fill their own pockets...
The California Endowment
1000 North Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tel: (800) 449-4149
What’s that? An 800#.....OK I’ll give ‘em a call
Dear Bertha Lewis, we don’t want you to survive.... eat cake.
“anti-poverty” organization?? my rear end!
LOL. Marked. Maybe I’ll make a ‘concerned’ call too. ;^)
Drain the Swamp!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.