ACORN is shutting its Brooklyn operation, only to replace it with another outfit by a different name.
In what sources called a desperate attempt at rebranding, the new organization, called New York Communities for Change, has many of the same board members as ACORN, shares similar goals of the troubled activist group, and will take over its lease on Nevins Street, an ACORN spokesman said.
“New York ACORN has closed its doors in New York City [and] there was a desire on the part of former members and staff to chart a new course with a new, independent organization that would get back to the basics of organizing,” the spokesman said.
“It reflects a desire on the part of progressive leaders and activists in New York, including former ACORN members and staff, to launch a new organization that can effectively advocate and fight for low-income people.”
A separate statement put out by spokesman Scott Levenson blamed ACORN’s troubles on “a series of vicious right-wing attacks over the past year and a half, and this has made it harder for ACORN to raise funds and organize and serve its members.”
Unlike the Brooklyn-based ACORN, the new group is not affiliated with any national organization, according to a statement from Ann Sullivan, who represents the nonprofit.
An ACORN branch in California announced a similar makeover.
Sullivan said the Brooklyn group will focus on helping New Yorkers facing foreclosure on their homes and advocating for tenant rights.
One source with close ties to ACORN said the change was a desperate maneuver by the left-leaning organization to clear its bad name and continue raising private funds.
“They’re reinventing themselves,” the source said. “The old brand is toxic, and so they have to reinvent themselves in order to apply for funding and start their operation all over again.
“They couldn’t raise any money. All of their funders — the money was dried up. All of their benefactors refused to give them funds under the ACORN banner.”
The source said ACORN called a private meeting last month of friends and closely affiliated politicians to announce the makeover.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes launched a probe into the local ACORN branch in September after The Post revealed that two activists disguised as a pimp and a prostitute were able to solicit financial advice on starting a brothel.
Other ACORN affiliates, including offices in Baltimore, Washington and San Bernardino, Calif., were exposed in the hidden-camera sting.
A spokesman for Hynes yesterday said the investigation is ongoing.
Shortly after news of the scandal broke, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn froze all new city funds earmarked for ACORN, and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo began investigating the grants state lawmakers have given the group.
Congress also shut off much of the group’s public funds.
At the Brooklyn office yesterday, a makeshift sign let visitors know the office now belongs to New York Communities for Change.
A bizarre sign hung above a receptionist’s phone read, “Warning: Do not answer phones without getting important, new directions from America. It is better to let them ring!!!”
Workers would not speak to a Post reporter, referring all questions to the spokesman.
ACORN last night released a statement saying that Bertha Lewis, who founded the labor-backed Working Families Party — which is closely affiliated with ACORN — is still the group’s national CEO, but will not have a position in the new, local group.
Additional reporting by Jessica Simeone