Food Security

Empower Missouri is dedicated in making sure every household in Missouri is food secure. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. We believe the key to attaining food security for all Missourians is through policy change.

We work towards food security in three ways: 

Through coalition building, we bring people together to develop and promote evidence-based practices that increase food security. We also prioritize legislator education, to enable our legislators to make informed decisions during the legislative process. Empower Missouri also offers learning opportunities of advocacy enhancement to individuals and organizations.

Key Stats

• • 12.6% of Missourians live in poverty.
  • Nearly one in five children in Missouri is food insecure. 
  • People in rural areas and households led by people of color experience hunger at disproportionately high rates.
  • Food banks in Missouri distribute over 130 million pounds of food every year.

The Plan – Ending Hunger in Missouri

Creating a food-secure Missouri requires private as well as public support. Private charities can and do play a role in addressing hunger in our communities, but they cannot do it alone. Over 130 million pounds of food were distributed from Missouri food banks in 2024; however, for every one meal provided by a food bank, 9 are provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Our government should ensure every person in our country has the resources needed to access enough healthy food to support an active and healthy lifestyle. There needs to be comprehensive policy and programmatic strategies at the governmental level to fully address this need. 

Empower Missouri recommends these long-term proposals to address hunger in Missouri:

• • Streamline nutrition program administration for the state of Missouri and streamline access to all safety net programs for families.

• • Increase outreach and education about the benefits of WIC, with increased participation in the program as the ultimate goal. 

• • Expand access to affordable and nutritious food throughout the state by addressing areas of low food access through a food systems approach.
• • Address barriers for seniors and people with disabilities in accessing nutrition programs.
• • Advancing economic development initiatives and policies.

• • Increase access to free school meals for Missouri children.