By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas ACORN has laid off four of its seven employees in the state because of low funds, an organizer with the embattled community activist organization said today.

Three full-time organizers and one part-time organizer, all based in Little Rock, were laid off last week, said Neil Sealy, head organizer for Arkansas’ chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

“It’s temporary, and we’re hoping to get people back very, very soon — I’m hoping in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Sealy said this is the second time Arkansas ACORN has had to impose temporary layoffs in the 25 years he has been with the organization. The previous layoffs occurred in 2007, and everyone laid off then eventually was hired back except for one person who was too sick to go back to work, he said.

“We don’t do things for a profit, we do organizing,” Sealy said. “Sometimes you’re in between funding, and that’s where we are now. We’re also looking to re-evaluate for the future.”

The latest layoffs leave ACORN with just three paid workers, two of them based in Little Rock and one in Pine Bluff.

Sealy said the organization’s re-evaluation will include a look into why its fundraising has declined. He said nonprofits in general are struggling to raise funds, but he acknowledged that a recent scandal — a hidden-camera video showed ACORN workers, not in Arkansas, giving advice to people posing as a prostitute and her pimp — is bound to have an impact.

“I’m not going to lie and say the national stuff isn’t going affect us,” he said. “It probably will, and we’re planning to be ready and figure out a strategy for this. We are not going away, and we have strong roots here in Arkansas.”

ACORN was founded in Arkansas nearly 40 years ago.