October 13, 2005

WAKEUPWALMART.COM REACHES RECORD MILESTONE AND ANNOUNCES NEW NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

Oct. 13, 2005 – Washington, D.C. – WakeUpWalMart.com, the group leading the national fight to change Wal-Mart, announced today it had achieved a record milestone of public support. In the last six months, over 103,052 Americans have joined the WakeUpWalMart.com movement. The WakeUpWalMart.com campaign enjoys growing grassroots support in all 50 states, and is one of America’s fastest growing social and political movements.

“”We are witnessing the creation of a new social and political movement led by ordinary Americans, from all across the country, who are coming together to change Wal-Mart into a responsible corporation,”” said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com. “”The national momentum to change Wal-Mart is both incredible and unprecedented.””

Today, WakeUpWalMart.com also announced an exciting new partnership with two of the largest grassroots organizations in the country – Jobs with Justice and ACORN. The alliance between Jobs with Justice, ACORN, and WakeUpWalMart.com builds an unparalleled force for change with thousands of activists, on-the-ground organizers and community groups ready to help change Wal-Mart in every town and city in America. Jobs with Justice and ACORN will be instrumental in helping WakeUpWalMart.com raise public awareness of why Wal-Mart needs to change beginning with Wal-Mart Week in November and extending through the entire holiday season.

“”This is a new day in the fight to change Wal-Mart. We have created an unprecedented, bottom-up force for change which will demonstrate why Wal-Mart needs to change now,”” added Maude Hurd, ACORN’s national president.

“”We are building the largest grassroots movement in history to change Wal-Mart. Our movement is led by community coalitions who believe America’s largest corporation should reflect the best in American values,”” said Fred Azcarate, executive director of Jobs with Justice.

ACORN
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. Since 1970, ACORN has grown to more than 175,000 member families, organized in 850 neighborhood chapters in 75 cities across the U.S. and in cities in Canada, the Dominican Republic and Peru.

Jobs with Justice
Jobs with Justice (JwJ) is a national network of local coalitions that connect labor, faith-based, community, and student organizations to work together on workplace and community social justice campaigns. JwJ coalitions now exist in over 40 cities in 29 states in all regions of the country.