Monday, June 23, 2008 Detroit
ACORN focuses on vote Advocates for poor cheer at convention for 'regime change'; congresswomen speak.Mike Martindale / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- About 2,000 members of ACORN, an advocacy group for low-income individuals, focused on getting out the vote this fall as they gathered for their national convention Sunday.
ACORN, or Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest such group, with offices and 400,000 member families in 42 states.
ACORN is hosting its biennial national convention at Cobo Hall with workshops on the mortgage foreclosure crisis, voter registration, health care and other key issues affecting low-income families.
"It is time for a regime change in America," said Maude Hurd, ACORN national president, to whistles and enthusiastic applause.
State by state, they told how they were effecting change in their respective communities -- from sponsoring forums to lobbying for legislation -- but all agreed more had to be done.
ACORN's political action committee has supported Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president, and Hurd encouraged all members to become active in voter registration.
It's estimated that this year, ACORN will help 1.2 million people register to vote in 26 states, including 120,000 in Michigan to date.
Sunday's sessions at times resembled part political rally and part revival meeting.
Jim Wallis, best-selling author and president/chief executive officer of Sojurners, told those at the conference: "Hope is believing in spite of the evidence and then seeing the evidence of change."
Wallis encouraged them to work to effect change.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, also stressed a need to get out the vote to put Obama in office and, ultimately, she said, to bring soldiers home and use resources spent on war to help rebuild America by helping families in need, including those losing homes in foreclosures.
"We are on the cusp of doing something different," Cheeks Kilpatrick told them. "You have the power in your hands. ... It won't be an overnight thing."
The convention closes today after more workshops and remarks from Detroit City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr., Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, the keynote speaker.
You can reach Mike Martindale at (248) 647-7226 or mmartindale@detnews.com.
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