WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – ACORN founder Wade Rathke, author of Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families, and UConn social work professor Robert Fisher, author of The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing and the Struggle for Economic Justice, will discuss the state of community organizing during a talk at the UConn School of Social Work on Nov. 11.

“Community Organizing: America’s Hope?” will focus on the current state of community organizing in Obama’s America. Sponsored by the dean’s office and the community organization concentration at the School of Social Work, the talk will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Zachs Community Room at UConn’s Greater Hartford Campus at 1798 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford. The event is free and open to the general public.

Rathke is chief organizer of Community Organizations International (formally Acorn International), founder and former chief organizer of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), and founder and chief organizer of Local 100, Service Employees International Union. He has been a professional organizer since the late 1960s. He also has worked for and founded a series of organizations dedicated to winning social justice, workers rights, and democracy. Many consider ACORN to be the largest and most effective anti-poverty organization in the United States.

For more information

Joanne Donati, Dean’s Office, School of Social Work: (860) 570-9292