April 1 saw the official demise of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and its remaining state affiliates. However, many local ACORN members jumped ship months before and had already begun creating a new organization, Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change.

NEW BEGINNING—Lucille Prater-Holliday leads PCOC members in one of the new organization’s first rallies.

“There’s a lot of changes happening. It’s a completely new and different organization at this point,” said Mary Ellen Hayden, a former ACORN organizer. “They’ve created something that’s really going to work. We want to continue to do all of that community service that we always did.”

PCOC has already secured funding from the Tides Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes social justice, and has gained status as a 501 (c) (3) and 501 (c) (4). The mission of PCOC is to advocate on behalf of low to moderate-income families.

With March’s homicides, this year’s totals have already surpassed the total for the previous year. In 2009, there were 18 homicides and for this year so far, there are 21. The beginning of the year started out with a step in the right direction but what will it take to get our communities back on track? Maybe what we need are those community prayer walks and vigils as a reminder that violence cannot and will not be tolerated. It takes the whole community, not just one particular group.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter says African-Americans should vote for him in the Democratic primary because he fully supports President Obama and his opponent has less experience and cannot beat likely Republican candidate Pat Toomey.

TOUTING EXPERIENCE —U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter tells the New Pittsburgh Courier editorial board that his history of support for civil rights and education gives him the edge over his primary election opponent, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak.

“I beat him before and I’ll beat him again,” Specter told the Courier editorial board. “I’m running to help President Obama carry out his agenda.”

In 2004, Specter—then a Republican, narrowly defeated Pat Toomey in the Republican primary after President George W. Bush campaigned for him. Last year, Specter returned to the Democratic Party after polls showed he would not win a similar primary contest, especially after he voted for the $1 trillion stimulus package. Specter said he didn’t leave the Republicans, they left him.

Will Thompkins is the recipient of the Dignity and Respect Champion award, a monthly honor recognizing people who are engaged in their communities, live by the principles of dignity and respect, and promote an environment of inclusion.

WILL THOMPKINS

Thompkins, director of community and outreach at The Pittsburgh Project, a nonprofit community development organization with a 25-year track record of developing leaders and serving the city’s most vulnerable residents, was nominated by Saleem Ghubril, executive director of the Pittsburgh Promise, a scholarship program for students in Pittsburgh Public Schools.