Wade Rathke
Encyclopedia
Wade Rathke is the founder of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
(ACORN) and Service Employees International Union
(SEIU) Local 100. He was ACORN's chief organizer
from its founding in 1970 until he stepped down June 2, 2008. He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Social Policy, a quarterly magazine for scholars and activists, and he is the author of one book published in 2009 and two in 2011, one where he was editor. Rathke and his partner, Beth Butler, live in New Orleans, Louisiana
.
in New Orleans, Louisiana
. He attended Williams College
, a private liberal arts college
in Williamstown, Massachusetts
, from 1966 to 1968. While there, Wade organized draft resistance for Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS) and later organized welfare recipients in Springfield and Boston, Massachusetts for the National Welfare Rights Organization
(NWRO).
(NWRO) in Springfield, Massachusetts
. After working with the NWRO, he left for Little Rock, Arkansas
to found a new organization designed to unite poor and working class families around a common agenda. As founder and chief organizer of ACORN, Rathke's first organizing hire was Gary Delgado among many notable community and labor organizers over the years.
This community organizing
initiative in Arkansas eventually grew into the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the largest organization of lower income and working families in the United States
, with 175,000 dues-paying families spread across about eighty-two staffed offices in American cities. The ACORN family of organizations includes radio stations (KNON and KABF
), publications, housing development and ownership (ACORN Housing), and a variety of other supports for direct organizing and issue campaigns, such as Project Vote
and the Living Wage Resource Center. ACORN International
has recently opened staffed offices in Lima, Peru, and Toronto
and Vancouver
, Canada, and 11 other countries including India, Kenya, and Italy.
reported on July 9, 2008, that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN's founder Wade Rathke, was found to have embezzle
d $948,607.50 from the group and affiliated charitable organizations back in 1999 and 2000. Wade learned of the problem when an employee of Citizens Consulting, the accounting firm for ACORN, told him an investigation uncovered inappropriate charges that led back to his brother. "Clearly, this was an uncomfortable, conflicting and humiliating situation as far as my family and I were concerned," Wade said, "and so the real decisions on how to handle it had to be made by others." ACORN executives decided to handle it as an internal matter, and did not inform some of the board members, staff or law enforcement, and instead signed an enforceable restitution agreement with the Rathke family to repay the amount of the embezzlement. After the Rathke family had repaid $210,000, in $30,000 installments, a friend of Wade Rathke, Drummond Pike
, purchased the promissory note
thereby repaying the remaining debt for Dale Rathke. According to the Times, Wade Rathke "said the decision to keep the matter secret was not made to protect his brother but because word of the embezzlement would have put a 'weapon' into the hands of enemies of Acorn, a liberal group that is a frequent target of conservatives who object to ACORN's often strident advocacy on behalf of low- and moderate-income families and workers." A whistleblower revealed the embezzlement in 2008. On June 2, 2008, Dale Rathke was dismissed, and Wade stepped down that same day as ACORN's chief organizer, but he remains chief organizer for Acorn International L.L.C.
(SEIU) Local 100, which is headquartered in New Orleans and also has chapters in Texas
. Founded in 1980 in New Orleans as an independent union of Hyatt
employees, the union became part of SEIU in 1984. SEIU Local 100 organizes public sector public workers, including school employees, Head Start, and health care workers, as well as lower wage private sector workers in the hospitality
, janitor
ial, and other service industries.
His work in the labor movement includes three terms as Secretary-Treasurer of the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO
. Rathke is the president and co-founder of the SEIU Southern Conference; a member of the International Executive Board of SEIU; and Chief Organizer of the Hotel and Restaurant Organizing Committee (HOTROC) a multi-union organizing project for hospitality workers in New Orleans sponsored by the AFL-CIO and its president, John Sweeney
.
Press.
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues...
(ACORN) and Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...
(SEIU) Local 100. He was ACORN's chief organizer
Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence...
from its founding in 1970 until he stepped down June 2, 2008. He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Social Policy, a quarterly magazine for scholars and activists, and he is the author of one book published in 2009 and two in 2011, one where he was editor. Rathke and his partner, Beth Butler, live in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
.
Education
Rathke graduated from Benjamin Franklin High SchoolBenjamin Franklin High School (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Benjamin Franklin High School is a public magnet high school in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Commonly nicknamed "Franklin" or "Ben Franklin", this school should not be confused with Franklin High School in Franklin, Louisiana. Ben Franklin was founded in 1957 as a school for gifted children...
in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. He attended Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, a private liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
in Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown is a town in Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,754 at the 2010 census...
, from 1966 to 1968. While there, Wade organized draft resistance for Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
(SDS) and later organized welfare recipients in Springfield and Boston, Massachusetts for the National Welfare Rights Organization
National Welfare Rights Organization
The National Welfare Rights Organization was an American activist organization that fought for the welfare rights of people, especially women and children. The organization had four goals: adequate income, dignity, justice, and democratic participation. The group was active from 1966 to 1975...
(NWRO).
Founding of ACORN
Rathke began his career as an organizer for the National Welfare Rights OrganizationNational Welfare Rights Organization
The National Welfare Rights Organization was an American activist organization that fought for the welfare rights of people, especially women and children. The organization had four goals: adequate income, dignity, justice, and democratic participation. The group was active from 1966 to 1975...
(NWRO) in Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
. After working with the NWRO, he left for Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
to found a new organization designed to unite poor and working class families around a common agenda. As founder and chief organizer of ACORN, Rathke's first organizing hire was Gary Delgado among many notable community and labor organizers over the years.
This community organizing
Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence...
initiative in Arkansas eventually grew into the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the largest organization of lower income and working families in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with 175,000 dues-paying families spread across about eighty-two staffed offices in American cities. The ACORN family of organizations includes radio stations (KNON and KABF
KABF
KABF is a community radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. Its nickname is "The Voice of the People" which refers to its populist official mission: to serve middle- and lower-income Arkansans. It broadcasts at 88.3 FM and is an organ of the Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation .KABF is...
), publications, housing development and ownership (ACORN Housing), and a variety of other supports for direct organizing and issue campaigns, such as Project Vote
Project Vote
Project Vote is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit 501 organization that works with marginalized and under-represented voters. Its current executive director is Michael Slater, who has worked for Project Vote since 2004...
and the Living Wage Resource Center. ACORN International
ACORN International
ACORN International is a federation of member-based community organizations that is active in Canada, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, India, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, South Korea, Czech Republic and Italy with partners in the Philippines and emerging affiliates in Trinidad & Tobago...
has recently opened staffed offices in Lima, Peru, and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Canada, and 11 other countries including India, Kenya, and Italy.
Departure from ACORN
The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported on July 9, 2008, that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN's founder Wade Rathke, was found to have embezzle
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
d $948,607.50 from the group and affiliated charitable organizations back in 1999 and 2000. Wade learned of the problem when an employee of Citizens Consulting, the accounting firm for ACORN, told him an investigation uncovered inappropriate charges that led back to his brother. "Clearly, this was an uncomfortable, conflicting and humiliating situation as far as my family and I were concerned," Wade said, "and so the real decisions on how to handle it had to be made by others." ACORN executives decided to handle it as an internal matter, and did not inform some of the board members, staff or law enforcement, and instead signed an enforceable restitution agreement with the Rathke family to repay the amount of the embezzlement. After the Rathke family had repaid $210,000, in $30,000 installments, a friend of Wade Rathke, Drummond Pike
Drummond Pike
Drummond Pike is an American philanthropist, activist and social entrepreneur. He founded Tides Foundation in 1976 and served as CEO of Tides for 34 years...
, purchased the promissory note
Promissory note
A promissory note is a negotiable instrument, wherein one party makes an unconditional promise in writing to pay a determinate sum of money to the other , either at a fixed or determinable future time or on demand of the payee, under specific terms.Referred to as a note payable in accounting, or...
thereby repaying the remaining debt for Dale Rathke. According to the Times, Wade Rathke "said the decision to keep the matter secret was not made to protect his brother but because word of the embezzlement would have put a 'weapon' into the hands of enemies of Acorn, a liberal group that is a frequent target of conservatives who object to ACORN's often strident advocacy on behalf of low- and moderate-income families and workers." A whistleblower revealed the embezzlement in 2008. On June 2, 2008, Dale Rathke was dismissed, and Wade stepped down that same day as ACORN's chief organizer, but he remains chief organizer for Acorn International L.L.C.
Founding Service Employees International Union Local 100
Rathke is also founder and Chief Organizer of Service Employees International UnionService Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...
(SEIU) Local 100, which is headquartered in New Orleans and also has chapters in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Founded in 1980 in New Orleans as an independent union of Hyatt
Hyatt
Hyatt Hotels Corporation , is an international operator of hotels.Hyatt Center is the headquarters for Hyatt corporation...
employees, the union became part of SEIU in 1984. SEIU Local 100 organizes public sector public workers, including school employees, Head Start, and health care workers, as well as lower wage private sector workers in the hospitality
Hospitality
Hospitality is the relationship between guest and host, or the act or practice of being hospitable. Specifically, this includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, resorts, membership clubs, conventions, attractions, special events, and other services for travelers...
, janitor
Janitor
A janitor or custodian is a professional who takes care of buildings, such as hospitals and schools. Janitors are responsible primarily for cleaning, and often some maintenance and security...
ial, and other service industries.
His work in the labor movement includes three terms as Secretary-Treasurer of the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
. Rathke is the president and co-founder of the SEIU Southern Conference; a member of the International Executive Board of SEIU; and Chief Organizer of the Hotel and Restaurant Organizing Committee (HOTROC) a multi-union organizing project for hospitality workers in New Orleans sponsored by the AFL-CIO and its president, John Sweeney
John Sweeney (labor leader)
John Joseph Sweeney was the president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009.-Early years:Born in The Bronx, New York, Sweeney is the son of Joseph and Agnes , both Irish immigrants. The family moved to Yonkers in 1944, where Sweeney attended St. Barnabas Elementary School and graduated from Cardinal...
.
Other projects
In 2000, Rathke created the Organizers' Forum, which brings together senior organizers in labor and community organizations in dialogues about challenges faced by constituency-based organizations, such as tactical development, organizing new immigrants, using technology, utilizing capital strategies and corporate campaign techniques, or understanding the impacts and organizing challenges of globalization.Publications
He is the author of the 2009 book Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families.. He is also the author of "The Battle for the Ninth Ward: ACORN, Rebuilding New Orleans, and the Lessons of Disaster" published on the sixth anniversary of Katrina on August 29, 2011, and editor of "Global Grassroots: Perspectives on International Organizing," also released in the summer of 2011 by Social PolicySocial policy
Social policy primarily refers to guidelines, principles, legislation and activities that affect the living conditions conducive to human welfare. Thus, social policy is that part of public policy that has to do with social issues...
Press.
External links
- Chief Organizer Blog
- ACORN International
- ACORN
- Tides Foundation
- SEIU Local 100
- Social Policy Magazine
- WSJ Article about Rathke
- Saul ... Time to Step Aside by Drummond Pike, June 25 2008