Michelle Young
Michelle Young first came to ACORN accidentally, when an organizer invited her to a meeting where Barack Obama was being interviewed as he sought the Chicago ACORN endorsement of a Congressional race against Bobby Rush. But she really got involved in ACORN shortly after that, when she was very active at May Elementary School on Chicago’s West Side. At the time, Chicago ACORN was working on figuring out why teacher turnover was so high on in that area, and also working with new teachers assigned to West Side schools to find out why they were there and how we could get them to stay. In this interview, Young shares how her family motivated her towards a life of service, and how discusses her experiences and impact working organizing teachers, especially with the Grow Your Own Teacher campaign, which won a state law and got state funding to provide the resources teacher aides and parents needed to get their undergrad degrees and teaching certificates.