The organization was founded in October 2007. Community residents in North Lawndale, Little Village, Englewood/West Englewood, and areas of the South Suburbs were looking for a different style of organization and a chance to explore issues in new ways. While ACORN national has resolved the issues that originally concerned local members, Action Now has embraced its independence. Free to engage with a wide variety of partners, Action Now seeks to create innovative approaches to long-term problems, and craft effective organizing strategies based on what works in this unique environment. In 2008, Action Nows first full year of operation, the organization greatly expanded its work on foreclosure prevention, established a significant new campaign around distribution of city services, strengthened and expanded neighborhood-based campaigns on the south and west sides, and invested in the startup phase of organizing in Waukegan. Action Now was a leader of the November 2009 campaign to win a budget amendment by the Cook County Board of Commissioners to establish $3.5 million of funding for Foreclosure Mediation.We worked with BPI (Business and Professional People in the Public Interest), drafted and helped pass a bill introducing a $50 filing fee that will appropriate $7 million for housing counseling and outreach throughout IHDA. Woodstock Institute is our fiscal agent.

Action Now is a community organization of low- and moderate-income working families in Cook County, Illinois. We engage in grassroots community organizing, coupled with rigorous policy analysis and effective media communications. The mission of Action Now is to organize working families to strengthen their voice on issues of racial, social and economic justice. The issue areas include housing, foreclosure and predatory lending, school improvement, access to health care, living wage jobs, utility costs, public safety, (both anti-violence and criminal justice reform), environmental justice and community improvement.

Action Now is currently targeting foreclosure prevention, affordable housing, living wage jobs, quality education, access to healthcare, immigrant rights, public safety and ex offender re-entry. In the south suburbs, we have worked with the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association (SSMMA) and organizations recommended by SSMMA including: Neighborhood Housing Services, Spanish Coalition for Housing, Legal Assistance Foundation, Housing Action Illinois and South Suburban Housing Center. We are also an active partner in several strong city- and state-wide coalitions and projects. Coalition campaigns Action Now is working with include: Good Jobs Chicago to create living wage jobs standards in Chicago; Sweet Home Chicago to win a city ordinance requiring 20% of Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) funds go toward affordable housing, including rehab and maintenance of vacant and foreclosed properties; Grassroots Collaborative to develop a community-labor based coalition in Chicagoland; and Responsible Budget Coalition to win tax reforms to pay for the state services working families desperately need. Additional projects include work with the Developing Justice Coalition and Collaborative, and Parents & Residents Invested in School and Education (PRISE) Reform. Action Nows organizing model is grounded in one-to-one relationships and community-driven priorities. Action Nows strong record of accomplishment ranges from incremental change at the very local level to sustained impact statewide. Action Now has held meetings with new police commanders in the 7th, 10th and 11th police districts, resulting in roll calls regularly being held in the community at the residents requests, with a special focus on foreclosed buildings and the crime that results. On the west side, Action Now has joined with St. Agathas, Clergy Committed to Community, Mothers Opposed to Violence Everywhere, and Ceasefire personnel to address the violence within Lawndale and between North Lawndale and Little Village. During last years very difficult state-level budgeting process, Action Now played a leadership role in winning an increase in funding for the Grow Your Own Teachers program, from $3 to $3.5 million. ACORN Illinois was one of the founding partners in Grow Your Own five years ago, and Action Now continues to play a lead role in improving and expanding this innovative community-based teacher development program. Through door-knocking, foreclosure seminars, and our newsletter we publicize that we will help people threatened with the loss of their homes. Action Now has worked closely with borrowers in low income neighborhoods to put them in touch with their lenders and with HUD certified housing counselors to win mortgage modifications, allowing those families to avoid foreclosure and remain in their homes. Beginning in April 2010, Action Now and The Chicago Community Trust partnered to increase awareness of the Cook County Foreclosure Mediation Program with a door-to-door outreach program targeting homeowners at risk of foreclosure in the south suburbs. Action Now is educating homeowners about the program and assisting them with opportunities for winning mortgage modifications.