Call For Action - History

History

Call For Action (CFA) was founded by Ellen Sulzberger Straus in 1963 at WMCA Radio in New York City. After in-depth research into New York City housing problems, a citywide telephone referral system was established to handle housing complaints. Ms. Straus' efforts resulted in revisions in the Code Enforcement procedures of the Department of Rent and Housing Maintenance and four Federal Grand Jury indictments against slumlords. This led to Call For Action's expansion into a central telephone information and referral service to handle all kinds of problems.

Ms. Straus' idea was simple. Use an ombudsman approach along with the power of the media on behalf of individual consumers to provide free and confidential mediation services. Call For Action would be a central telephone system located at a broadcast station. The station tells its audience about the service and provides a telephone number. The phones are staffed by trained volunteer professionals who act as mediators to help consumers resolve complaints.

The success of this concept led to Call For Action becoming a national organization in 1969. Four additional radio stations became hosts to CFA that year, and the first network of consumer hotlines was born. The network has since grown with offices throughout the United States and abroad. Additionally, the Network Hotline Office has the capability of handling complaints from consumers who do not have a CFA in their area.

In 1989, Call For Action undertook a second mission of educating consumers. In partnership with the Federal Trade Commission in 1991, CFA wrote a brochure for national distribution on advance-fee loan scams. Two others followed focusing on phony prize offers and double scamming frauds. In 1992, CFA produced and distributed “Scams, Schemes, and Deceptive Offers”, a brochure aimed at educating small businesses about frauds to which they are susceptible.

Since then, Call For Action has partnered with numerous corporate sponsors, including MasterCard International, Verizon, Experian, IBM, VISA, MCI, American Express, and AT&T, producing education initiatives that include identity theft, debit cards, small business scams, telephone issues, consumer credit, and online privacy. To date, Call For Action's extensive outreach campaigns have resulted in the distribution of over 9 million brochures to individual consumers, government agencies, consumer protection offices, etc.