Frances Fox Piven
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Frances is an internationally renowned social scientist, scholar, and activist, who, with her late husband Richard Cloward, helped conceptualize and advise the National Welfare Rights Organization, which was an important predecessor organization to ACORN. Frances worked closely with Wade Rathke, an NWRO organizer who became the founder of ACORN in 1970. In this interview, Frances describes the development of her political theories; how she worked with George Wiley (the founder of NWRO) to build the welfare rights movement; and the debates over the establishment of ACORN in 1970. She also discusses her continued involvement with ACORN over the decades, and her views and critiques of the organization and its leadership.