The organization previously known as ACORN is reportedly alive and well, just known by many different names.
The list of still-active ACORN entities, allies and rebranded organizations was compiled by Cause of Action, a nonprofit watchdog group that aims to expose waste, fraud and abuse of government funds.
Karen Groen, chief oversight counsel, explains that "Congress passed a law saying that ACORN wasn't to be funded with federal dollars. And what we found is that, with respect to some of these entities, they're claiming a tax-exempt status. And from some of the paperwork it looks like what they are essentially doing is taking tax-exempt donations and shuffling those toward political activity."
Cause of Action has made three requests to the IRS to investigate three ACORN-related groups in particular: the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and New York Communities for Change (NYCC).
"From our investigation, it looked like these entities could be essentially conducting a shell-game with their tax-deductible donations that they're receiving," Groen reports.
At least two of the groups, Mutual Housing Association of New York and Affordable Housing Centers of America in Chicago, have received federal dollars.