Jay Hessey
Jay Hessey worked for Carolina Action (and its partner organizations Georgia Action and SC Action) starting in 1973. He was the director of the overall umbrella organization for the 3 state organizations when they affiliated with ACORN in 1979; he stayed on as southern regional director of ACORN until 1984. In this interview, Jay talks about his earliest political experiences – organizing against the Vietnam War, refusing induction in the military, and then ending up as a Vista volunteer organizing public housing tenants in Philadelphia. After a short stint doing community organizing in Lexington, Jay headed to Durham to work with Carolina Action. He talked about early campaigns fighting utility rate increases, and other accomplishments throughout the southeast. Jay then discusses his negotiations with ACORN to develop an affiliation agreement, and his work convincing his colleagues and board members to pursue the affiliation. Jay left ACORN in 1984, and eventually went to work for SEIU and the Justice for Janitors campaign (for the next 20 years); he talks about how his community organizing experiences with leadership development and direct action were essential to his success at SEIU. Since Jay’s retirement in 2006, he and his partner have spent much of their time traveling and doing volunteer work with human rights groups in Thailand, India, Uganda.