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New Statewide Activist Group Rises in California
by Randy Shaw‚ Jan. 13‚ 2010

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), a new statewide grassroots activist group, opened its doors this week in the wake of California ACORN's inability to function. ACCE’s creation, and the process of developing a new organization in California, ensures that working families will continue to have a powerful voice in Sacramento, dashing the hopes of Fox News and other right-wing media who hoped to weaken grassroots power by de-funding ACORN. A number of former California ACORN staff are now working for ACCE, but the new organization has installed a series of strict financial and oversight controls whose absence long plagued ACORN nationally. Among these oversight bodies is an Advisory Council headed by Keith Rohman, president of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission. Rohman is also the founder and president of Public Interest Investigations, Inc., which is retained by public entities and nonprofits to investigate allegations of misconduct. Amy Schur, one of the nation’s top grassroots organizers with years of experience throughout California and in the world of Sacramento politics, will be ACCE’s first Executive Director.

As California faces another huge state budget deficit, the prospects of further cuts to vital services, and a constitution that allows a small minority of anti-tax Republican legislators to prevent revenue increases, every day seems to bring a new dose of bad news. But this week progressives and working people got some very good news, as a new statewide activist organization, ACCE, opened its doors.

California’s Grassroots Crisis

For a state whose top political offices are dominated by Democrats, and which is the home of MoveOn.org, the Sierra Club and politically savvy labor unions, California’s grassroots organizing apparatus is surprisingly ineffectual. This has resulted in surprisingly few victories for progressive ballot initiatives, while conservative-backed measures like Prop 13 and Prop 218 constrict efforts to enhance social and economic justice.

ACCE offers a great opportunity to change this dynamic. Consider the following:

ACCE has offices across the state, and is positioned to build public support outside the core progressive bases in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

ACCE has a team of experienced, racially diverse organizers who know how to win progressive change.

ACCE will create openings for new organizers at a time when many young people in particular are eager to work for change, but lack a vehicle for doing so.

ACCE has strong ties with labor unions, religious groups and other progressive institutions, making broad coalitions for change not only possible, but likely.

A Structure Built to Win

What’s particularly promising about ACCE is its structure for governance.

While its members will formally run the organization pursuant to a democratic process, the presence of an oversight body helps ensure that ACCE will avoid the type of financial and accounting problems that created tremendous challenges for ACORN.

As a member of the Advisory Council, I participated in a meeting with other members on Monday. I was greatly impressed by those who have agreed to serve on the Council, which includes Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Richard Barrera, Board President of the San Diego Unified School District, Angelica Salas, the director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), and other attorneys, nonprofit Executive Directors, and longtime activists.

These are not the type of people who are going to remain silent should ACCE unexpectedly begin turning away from its mission, or engage in questionable accounting practices. To the contrary, many Advisory Council members are committed, despite their already busy schedules, to impart whatever guidance and wisdom necessary to make ACCE the powerful statewide grassroots vehicle that California in 2010 desperately needs.

Beyond Chron will keep you posted on ACCE’s progress in the months ahead.

Randy Shaw is editor of Beyond Chron, and a member of the ACCE Advisory Council. He is the author of Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.

For more information, please visit: Beyond Chron