February 25, 2026 To: Rep. Ben Keathley, Chairman, and Members, House Committee on General Laws From: Mallory Rusch, Executive Director, Empower Missouri Re: Our opposition to HB 1974 Founded in 1901, Empower Missouri advocates for the well-being of Missourians through civic leadership, education, and research. As part of our work, we organize a statewide coalition...Read More

Date: February 18, 2026 To: Chairman Schroer and Members, Senate Judiciary Committee From: Mallory Rusch, Executive Director, Empower Missouri As the largest and oldest anti-poverty advocacy organization in our state, Empower Missouri is committed to improving the quality of life for all Missouri residents through advocacy. Since our inception, Empower Missouri has focused on the...Read More

Date: February 18, 2026 To: Chairman Schroer and Members, Senate Judiciary Committee From: Mallory Rusch, Executive Director  Re: SB 854 and SB 1494 We are thrilled to offer testimony in support of SB 854 and SB 1494. Our nation’s criminal justice system was conceived and implemented long before the internet became an integral component of...Read More

In 1901, a group of 41 Missourians came together to form the Missouri Conference on Charities and Corrections, the organization that would eventually become Empower Missouri. The group was deeply concerned about social conditions in the state and around the country: Segregation was the law of the land. Women couldn’t vote, and many died in...Read More

Date: January 27, 2025 To: Chairwoman Gallick and Members, House Economic Development From: Mallory Rusch, Executive Director  Re: HB 2747 + HB 2047 We are thrilled to offer testimony in support of HB 2747 + HB 2047, which we’ll be referencing as Clean Slate legislation. Our nation’s criminal justice system was conceived and implemented long...Read More

We’re on day 42 of the government shutdown, which has set a record for the longest shutdown in American history. On Sunday evening, a group of moderate Democrats broke from their caucus to negotiate with Senate Republicans on a deal to reopen the government. A series of votes in both chambers will be necessary to...Read More

We’re on day seven of a government shutdown, and there’s no end in sight. In the US, we’ve endured 11 shutdowns (including this one) since 1980, when we began requiring all nonessential government activities to cease when legislation to finance government operations hasn’t been passed before the start of the fiscal year. (The federal fiscal...Read More

On Friday afternoon, after 4PM, ahead of the long holiday weekend, Governor Mike Kehoe announced that he was calling a special session to “enact legislation establishing updated congressional districts for the State of Missouri and amending the state’s initiative petition process.” This is a political move called “taking out the trash,” which refers to the...Read More

Empower Missouri strongly condemns President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) on “Ending Crime & Disorder on America’s Streets.” The order is riddled with misleading statements, prejudicial language, and outright lies about our neighbors who are unhoused. We seek to correct this misinformation and encourage our partners to stand ready to mitigate, and then be prepared to...Read More

Over the last three months, we have published a series of blog posts investigating the housing crisis in the United States. In our first piece, we defined the current crisis. In the second post, we examined the economic factors that created and are sustaining the problem. And in our most recent post, we looked at...Read More