Resolving the dilemma between organizing and services: Los Angeles ACORN's welfare advocacy

The issue of providing individual services historically has been a major dilemma for social action, Alinsky-style community organizations. Empirical evidence suggests that most action organizations that moved into service provision lost mass-based participation, militant tactics, and a power-building orientation. The author presents a case study of Los Angeles ACORN's combination of direct action organizing and providing individual advocacy services to welfare recipients in a campaign organizing general relief recipients. In this case individual service provision supported rather than diminished organizing. Based on evidence from this case study, the author presents a model to help organizations balance the tension between organizing and providing services: Establish an organizing model and identity first, hire new staff to implement services, engage in strategic planning, and use services to create new funding streams.