Curating, formatting, and publishing the “Empowering You” newsletter has been a really enjoyable part of my job since I started with Empower Missouri in April of 2019. As I’ve worked on it with my colleagues, we’ve been trying to find ways to make it as beneficial for our followers as possible. Through a lot of...Read More

Please download the full .pdf version of the newsletter by clicking here, or browse the articles below: Dangers and Opportunities in the 2020 Legislative Session: Our Advocacy for Justice Will Make a Difference – JMOCriminal justice will continue to see bipartisan progress in 2020 – Christine WoodyHow we’re working to increase affordable housing in Missouri...Read More

Empower Missouri’s Affordable Housing Coalition recently released their 2020 legislative priorities. You can read it here. Some things on the list are very straight forward, some are really big asks, and some are common sense. However, one in particular is a bit more complicated.  Cities and states have a slate of tools available to them...Read More

It seems as if many of the issues today that are being debated in our state and federal legislatures are seen as partisan, but criminal justice reform is an exception. Criminal justice reform is a great example of how bipartisanship can really work! Legislators and advocates from both sides of the political spectrum are working...Read More

I attended a conference with other justice organizers from December 4-6 in Washington, DC, and I have been pondering something that a communications professional said in that meeting since my return. “Our narratives need an enemy,” she said, related to what research says about messaging. Empower Missouri is an evidence-based advocacy organization. If research says...Read More

The 2020 Legislative Session begins on Wednesday, January 8, and adjourns on Friday, May 15, with a Legislative Spring Break from March 23 to 27. Many factors go into every Legislative Session, some that press on the accelerator and others that push on the brakes. Here are some of the factors that we expect to...Read More

HIV criminalization is a complex issue. In the time when many of the laws concerning HIV were first established, there was widespread public fear about HIV and AIDS along with significant bias against members of the LGBTQ community who were severely impacted by the epidemic. The combination of that fear and prejudice fueled a lack...Read More