Denise Dixon
Denise Dixon joined ACORN in 1999 when she organized the campaign for ACORN Illinois president Ted Thomas’ run for 15th ward alderman in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. When Thomas won the election, Dixon became president of ACORN Illinois. From 1999 – 2004 she organized and participated in Chicago and national campaigns, including the Chicago Living Wage Campaign with Local 880 homecare workers; the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program campaign against Peoples Gas; Chicago’s Grow Your Own campaign to get more Black teachers teaching in Black neighborhood schools; and the Household Bank fight against predatory lenders (as part of the national campaign under ACORN Housing Services with Mike Shea). She left ACORN in 2004, recruited to work for Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH. She returned to run Action Now as director, after being recruited by Madeline Talbott, but stayed only a few years until the end of ACORN. In the interview she says her passion for the work with ACORN occured naturally: “There was no ‘ah hah’ moment for me. It just evolved one thing after another. It was the constant moving of issues and we were winning – and winning makes you strong. We were winning for the people and that was important to me.” This interview will be of interest to those researching specific campaign strategies, effective organizing, and Chicago and Illinois ACORN actions.