John Atlas

80 Posts

John Atlas is a founder of Shelterforce and board chair emeritus. He is the producer of ACORN and the Firestorm, a film directed by Reuben Atlas and Sam Pollard and author of SEEDS OF CHANGE: The Story of ACORN, America's Most Controversial Anti-Poverty Community Group. He is also the former executive director of the Passaic County Legal Aid Society.
Housing Advocacy

In Chicago, a Partial Solution to the Foreclosure Crisis?

This week Chicago Alderman Pat Dowell, at the request of Action Now, the former Illinois chapter of Acorn, which broke away in 2008, and their allies, like Southwest Organizing Project, […]

Financial System

What You Need To Know About Financial Reform

Is the public in favor of regulating Wall Street? A national survey conducted in March by the nonpartisan Pew Economic Policy Group found that 68 percent of the public have […]

Organizing

ACORN: The New York Times, Lies, and Videotape

The New York Times hit ACORN with a one-two punch last weekend, making sure that the community organizing group — flattened by attacks from the right and withdrawal of funding […]

Organizing

Court Rules That Congress Unfairly Singled Out ACORN

A federal judge blocked U.S. officials from enforcing a funding ban on ACORN, one of America’s most effective anti-poverty groups. Congress cut off funding for ACORN — the Association of […]

Organizing

After the Politicking, Let’s Remember ACORN’s Vital Work

ACORN has been falsely charged in the news media, by politicians, and even by some supporters. This was the point driven home by Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN (the […]

Policy

Occupied Owner

For decades, the United States government, pushed by its business partners in the financial and real estate world, “marched the nation into a delusion.” The fantasy is that we can create wealth for millions of homeowners by enriching investors, brokerage and mortgage companies and Wall Street bankers “to the fullest extent possible with few boundaries.”

Organizing

What Is ACORN?

By now, most Americans have heard of ACORN. We know them as the national anti-poverty group, which uses community organizing to provide invaluable services to our communities, pressure powerful banks […]

Housing

We All Need to Join In The President’s Fight To Overhaul The Financial Industry

On Monday, as I entered Federal Hall on Wall Street to hear President Barack Obama’s speech, a huge crowd gathered outside the building hoping for a glimpse of the president […]

Policy

Labor Day, Chris Christie, and the Employee Free Choice Act

It’s labor-day weekend so let’s think about unions, Republicans, and politics. Unions are a potent reality check as well as a counterforce to the power of big business. Most union […]

Organizing

Karl Rove v. ACORN

Now we know that Karl Rove spearheaded the firing of David Iglesias, the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico who refused to follow the Bush White House’s orders to intimidate low-income […]

Housing Advocacy

Franken, the Fourth of July, and Worker’s Rights

Finally: Al Franken has been seated in the US Senate. After a grueling recount process, former Sen. Norm Coleman finally conceded defeat and congratulated Franken on his Senate victory in […]

Note from the Board

I would like to take this opportunity today to tell you about some important changes at the National Housing Institute–changes that, like so much of life, are both happy and […]