For years, we have been fighting a narrative that giving money and support to people trying to make ends meet without requiring them to work discourages them from working. This is simply untrue and results in policies that are based on unfounded biases and increases the risk of people of all ages and abilities failing...Lee mas

Getting a raise or landing a better paying job sounds like great news, especially if your income is low enough that you need additional support to meet your family’s basic needs. But that pay increase comes with a big catch for families who use programs with income thresholds – programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition...Lee mas

A bipartisan group of Missouri lawmakers have proposed evidence-based policy that will help close to half of Missouri’s growing families. They seek to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a full year – to give one year of uninterrupted access to healthcare after a person’s pregnancy ends.   Despite the fact that the bills...Lee mas

The initiative petition process is a right we share enshrined in Missouri’s constitution, Article III, Section 49: “The people reserve power to propose and enact or reject laws and amendments to the constitution by the initiative, independent of the general assembly, and also reserve power to approve or reject by referendum any act of the...Lee mas

Investing in Teachers = Investing in Education = Better Outcomes for us All.  Decades of research tell us that increasing our investment in education leads to safer and more prosperous communities. This includes higher salaries for individuals, higher employment rates, more economic opportunity, greater workforce effectiveness, and draws employers to the state who are seeking...Lee mas

Over the last six weeks, we have described Missouri’s practice of outsourcing probation and supervision services to private businesses and introduced why it is a problem and why we seek to make this a priority. For another brief summary of the issue, Human Rights Watch produced a short video describing how for-profit companies impact us....Lee mas

In part one of this series, we provided a brief introduction to the concept of private probation – the practice of outsourcing probation services for minor and low-level offenses to private businesses. In the second part of this series, we will explore  the issue in more depth, and answer two questions: how serious is the...Lee mas

Empower Missouri is growing, and we’re excited to have introduced you to several new team members over the last few weeks. Today we’re rounding out our team with Holly Honig-Josephson, our new Policy Director: Hello Empower family, I am thrilled and honored to be here in community with you all, working to realize Empower Missouri’s...Lee mas

Members of Empower Missouri’s Criminal Justice Coalition have been discussing Missouri’s use of private probation and the impact on our communities. Missouri is one of about nine others who have outsourced probation services. In conversation with family and friends,  we realized there are a lot of us who have never heard of the practice. This...Lee mas