We knew going into the legislative session that it would be a wild year. Unfortunately, wild years where very little gets done has become the normal legislative process in Missouri. It wasn’t designed to be this way. However, partisan infighting, electoral maps designed to favor one party, distrust in government and an overall breakdown in...Lee mas

On Wednesday, May 11th, Empower Missouri, Criminal Justice Ministry, the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, Metropolitan Congregations United, the Missouri Catholic Conference, Missouri Coalition of Recovery Support Providers and More2 joined together to host a discussion on the Clean Slate Initiative, featuring speakers Rabbi Doug Alpert, Tom Casey, Brandon Reid, Christine McDonald, and...Lee mas

In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), sometimes known as the welfare reform bill. Buried deep within that sweeping legislation was a provision that hardly received any debate, but has had lifelong implications for millions of Americans. This provision imposed a lifetime ban on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program...Lee mas

This past week Empower Missouri held its Annual Week of Action. In addition to 3 virtual days, this year we were able to be back in the Capitol for the first time in over 2 years! It was so good to be back.  On each of our virtual days attendees were able to learn about...Lee mas

This session, five bills have been filed pertaining to funding for the Kansas City Police Department.  For those who are not familiar with the issue, here’s a quick primer.  The Situation in KC Kansas City is the only municipality in Missouri that doesn’t currently have control of its own police department.  Under Missouri statute, the...Lee mas

Since 1901, the pinnacle of Empower Missouri’s work each year has been its Annual Conference. In fact, for the first decade, that was the bulk of Empower Missouri’s (then called the Missouri State Conference on Charities & Corrections) work. Once a year, advocates gathered together to discuss the state of affairs in Missouri and make...Lee mas

In June 2021, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office released data from its annual Vehicle Stops Report, which showed in 2020 black drivers were about 71% more likely to be stopped by police than white drivers in Missouri. The Attorney’s General Office has been collecting data on vehicle stops since 2000. Over the past several years,...Lee mas

A principios de agosto, Saint Louis fue sede de la Cumbre de Equidad Racial. El evento de este año se llevó a cabo a través de un formato virtual y destacó las principales desigualdades en toda nuestra sociedad, pero también ofreció discusiones oportunas sobre cómo todos podríamos avanzar. La cumbre contó con oradores como Edgar Villanueva, Angela Davis y Adrienne Maree Brown. En...Lee mas

La semana pasada, la asediada Junta Editorial del St. Louis Post-Dispatch publicó un artículo de opinión en reacción a una noticia de que 200 detenidos que enfrentaban cargos federales habían sido trasladados en autobús a cárceles de otros estados tras el cierre del St. Louis Medium. Institución de seguridad, coloquialmente conocida como The Workhouse. El Comité Editorial postula que estos "presos" ...Lee mas

La semana pasada, en nombre de Empower Missouri, asistí al Simposio SEARCH 2021. Es un foro nacional que aborda temas, programas, investigaciones y políticas críticas y oportunas que enfrentan los tomadores de decisiones y los profesionales de la gestión de la información judicial. Debido a la pandemia global en curso, la sesión de este año fue un modelo híbrido, que llevó a cabo cursos en persona y en ...Lee mas