An interview with Bertha Lewis CEO of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)

By Howard Pitsch (Brenda Lewis data in association with Nicholas Kapustinsky)

Q. First of all, congratulations upon recently being named CEO of ACORN! Now, are the figures - 1200 neighborhood organizations of ACORN in 40 states - still current?

They're still accurate, and we are very happy that in the past year-and-a-half; we've grown from 400,000 to well over 500,000 member families.

Q. Has President Obama's fresh emphasis on health, education and environment - all in addition to our economy and two war fronts - modified ACORN's goals in any way?

It has modified the goals of ACORN by amplifying them. These are bread and butter issues to us. The environment is critical to low and moderate income folks. Whether it is having affordable energy, helping people pay for heating and cooling, or decreasing pollution in our cities to reduce huge asthma rates - which goes to health care. Working families in this country suffer disproportionately from lack of health services, and are not always educated on the need for preventive measures, which goes to education.

We applaud President Obama's priorities - they have always been ACORN'S priorities. We're just happy that after eight years of "do nothing" policies, we finally have a President who "gets it", and has a program and a strategy to address these three very important issues.

Q. With Barack Obama as leader, do you see yourself continuing to organize additional third parties, or will you now work more closely with the Democratic Party?

We will do both. We believe it is imperative to work with Democrats of all stripes because we feel that the Democratic majority is a progressive majority. Still, one tool that helps keep people accountable and strengthen progressive ideals is being able to organize viable third parties. So yes, we will continue to push the Democrats as progressives, but we will also pursue third-party politics because we believe that is a viable political, electoral strategy for our nation's working families.

Q. Unions have long been champions of working families. But many are now making concessions. How can ACORN help hold the line on concessions, or more unionization?

Once again, our members are working people who in great numbers are part of unions. We believe the labor movement is a progressive movement and that people have the right to organize. Unions helped to build this country and will be a part of what turns this economy - and this country - around. Unions should be applauded for all their responsible concessions in helping major corporations such as the auto industry. Labor unions were on the frontlines of sacrifice as they began to be affected by this economy, long before CEOs took those big bonuses.

Q. With so many mortgage foreclosures, how has ACORN been able to help the dispossessed?

First of all, for ten years ACORN has been saying, "the economic sky is falling," and we were ignored, at best. We sounded the alarm on predatory lending, on sub-prime loans and on rampant deregulation. ACORN has counseled foreclosure victims, promoted legislation for a federal moratorium on the runaway foreclosure trade, and fought to have banks and lending institutions modify loans. We recently created our ACORN Home Defenders Campaign to keep homeowners in their homes long enough for President Obama's program to kick in. We have trained volunteers, across the country, in non-violent action to defend people in their homes and turn back sheriffs who serve evictions. So, yes, we are also in the halls of Congress, in the board rooms and on the streets fighting against these foreclosures. We'll fight for ten more years until home-owning Americans actually have a fair shake.

Q. On a more Brooklyn scale, how do you feel about the Working Families Party striving to get Letitia James elected to the City Council, only to have her turn her back on unionized labor, which, understandably, supports the Atlantic Yards project?

First of all, I think the question is phrased unfairly. One has nothing to do with the other. Ms. James and ACORN and I have disagreed on Atlantic Yards, but reasonable people can disagree. I do not believe her stand means opposition to organized labor. To the best of my knowledge, she has a good record with labor. She has her reasons for opposing Atlantic Yards and we believe her reasons are unfounded. But to be honest, the opposition to organized labor is, as I see it, the only place where we parted ways. I will always, for lack of a better term, call a spade a spade, so I think the framing of that question is not fair.

Q. Since Delia Hunley-Adossa favors Atlantic Yards and the Community Benefits Agreement signed with Forest City Rattner, do you think she has a chance of claiming Ms. James’s Council seat? And if so, will you encourage the Working Families Party to support Ms. Hunley-Adossa?

Well, now that I've become CEO of ACORN nationally, I've become less involved in local politics. I believe Ms. Adossa has the right to run, just as anyone has a right to run. However, if I were advising her, I would say a City Council person needs a lot of issues for building a platform. That Council District is facing enormous challenges and Atlantic Yards is only one sexy issue. It's the rampant gentrification and overdevelopment of downtown Brooklyn that are the bigger problems that need to be explored.

Q: Mr. Frank Gehry has withdrawn his comment that Atlantic Yards and arena probably won't be built because of the economy. Bruce Rattner continues to say it will be. What's your feeling? And will the Community Benefits Agreement with Forest City Rattner still hold true across any long delay?

First of all, Mr. Gehry should have withdrawn his ill-considered remarks, and we commend him for admitting that he was wrong. Number two, I don't have to think Atlantic Yards is going to be built, I know it is going to be built, and here's why: As you know, ACORN crafted the 50/50 affordable housing component of the Atlantic Yards project and, let us remind people again, it is the affordable housing component that is the jewel in the Atlantic Yards plan. An Arena is fine - the Arena might not get built, but affordable housing units will be built. We are affordable housing developers; we know how this stuff works. Unfortunately, those who oppose Atlantic Yards have been the main cause of its delay, not the economy. It was the endless, expensive delays and the court cases. And those who opposed it said that it was their strategy to keep mucking up the work. So, we have an entire tower, a mixed tower of lower and moderate income mixed with fixed rate housing. But that is a consequence, not of the economy, but of folks who used every unreasonable tactic they could to delay the project, especially the Treasurer of the MTA who, despite being at the table from the beginning, has made unreasonable demands of Forest City Rattner.

Q: Will Bertha Lewis continue to head ACORN from offices in New York or move to Washington D.C.?

As of now I am the national CEO and have been running the organization from around the country, however, I do still work out of New York when I am there. The ACORN Board of Directors has agreed to move the CEO office and executive offices to the Washington D.C area, because they think, after 38 years, ACORN as a national organization should have a larger presence in Washington. So over the next year we will be working from both Washington, and from New York, our national headquarters.

Q: Any closing thoughts, pro or con, about the future of Fort Greene as a locale and how you fit into it?

In terms of issues that effect low and moderate income, working-class people, that neighborhood is critical. As goes Fort Greene and downtown Brooklyn, and I know this sounds grandiose, but so goes New York. It is a testament to the resiliency of New York that Fort Greene was a desolate neighborhood - you just didn't go there after dark. But now folks who have been there for thirty years and stuck it out are seeing the fruits of their labor. I love that area. I love Fort Greene and I think it exemplifies Brooklyn, and ACORN will continue to have a large presence there, as will the Working Families Party - our members are there and ACORN is going to grow along with Fort Greene.

--Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Howard Pitsch in cooperation with Nicholas Kapustinsky.