WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
Oakland We’ve always been clear, organizing is an art, not a science. We count everything of course and measure the probabilities closely in order to predict turnout, growth, staff development, and a host of other things, but mostly that is necessary to provide the infrastructure. It doesn’t change the organic nature of the work …
San Francisco One of the major, underestimated values of consistent work by community organizations is the pure and simple importance of persistence. When I got the text from my son via his Apple news alert, I contained myself until I found the confirmation in the Washington Post. It was true, after more than …
San Jose Talking about my planned visits to some of the California cities where we had assisted communities in applying for low power FM radio stations, my friends could only shake their heads. There was unanimous consensus that this was a crazy idea, with too much driving and traffic that would kill the best made …