Kurt Roscow
Kurt Roscow was hired as a door-to-door canvasser for ACORN in late 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a field manager, and after a special assignment in Detroit in the summer of 1980, directed the Denver canvass from fall 1980 through 1981. In this interview, Roscow reflects on how much he enjoyed ACORN’s management culture, which emphasized accountability and tracked numerous metrics at all levels of canvass performance. Roscow shares a seminal story of ACORN members in Detroit taking national and international press on bus tours of the “real Detroit” during the 1980 Republican National Convention. He also reflects on how much he appreciated the intelligence, energy, creativity and ambition of ACORN’s staff and membership in challenging the power structure.