JEFFERSON CITY, Mo – Following a year-long search, Empower Missouri announced today that it has selected Mallory Rusch to serve as its next Executive Director. Mallory will lead the non-profit’s efforts in strategic planning, development and coalition building to build on the successes of the nonprofit devoted to advocating for basic needs and equal justice...Read More

As I scroll through my inbox in these final days of 2020, I’m bombarded with emails loaded with reflections, roundups, and other recollections of the last 363 days. It’s an odd moment to start in a new position and to join an organization in ruminating on its past and planning for its future.  And yet,...Read More

The Empower Missouri Board of Directors announced today that Jeanette Mott Oxford (“JMO”) departed the organization last week. JMO played a key role in the evolution of Empower Missouri, first as Executive Director and then as Director of Policy & Organizing. We are grateful for zir leadership both within this organization and as a Missouri...Read More

As we first shared with you on November 20, Empower Missouri has been convening community groups since late October to seek a way to prevent utility shutoffs this winter as Missouri reels under the combined impact of COVID-19 and a deep economic recession. We have met with the governor’s staff. We have met with the...Read More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 9, 2020 (JEFFERSON CITY, MO)…Citing the need to “protect the health and safety of the general public during the ever-worsening COVID-19 pandemic in Missouri, Consumers Council of Missouri filed a motion with the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) on December 7 for an emergency order to create a winter utility disconnection...Read More

More than three decades ago, my biological parents tested positive for HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and were diagnosed with AIDS in the late 80s and mid-90s. My dad’s death came first in 1989, followed by my mom’s death in 1994, just two years before breakthroughs toward truly effective treatments were achieved in 1996. Every day,...Read More

For Immediate Release December 2, 2020 (JEFFERSON CITY, MO…) On World AIDS Day, 2020, a bipartisan group of Missouri legislators held a 1 p.m. virtual press conference via Zoom and Facebook to announce the filing of legislation aimed at ending transmission of HIV in our state. They were joined by People Living with HIV and...Read More