New York, NY —

New York ACORN is being dissolved and a new group is taking over. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has more.

REPORTER: New York Communities for Change says it's made up of leaders in the progressive community and former ACORN staff members. ACORN has been struggling to stay alive ever since a video showed workers giving home buying advice to a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute. The scandal caused the federal government to freeze ACORN's funds and it also lost money from foundations and other private donors.

In New York, local members resorted to holding bake sales and raffles to raise money. ACORN had 45000 New York members and was seen as a powerful entity that could organize behind everything from school funding to landlord tenant disputes. According to a spokesman, the new group is negotiating with national ACORN to purchase its membership list and it plans to sign up as many people as possible.