Missouri’s aging population is expected to rise very quickly over the next decade, mirroring a historic demographic shift occurring across the United States. Currently, one in four Missourians is 60 years of age or older. This trend is projected to continue, with the number of Missourians aged 60 and above soon equaling the number of...Lee mas

It was a busy but inspiring week for Empower Missouri: our 2024 Week of Action! Throughout the week we offered three virtual training sessions (recordings coming soon!), and on Wednesday we gathered at the Capitol to meet with legislators, learn from our team and other advocates, and make our voices heard to end poverty in...Lee mas

We’re nearing the end of Hunger Action Month, and to wrap things up, we’re bringing you more resources and information to aid in our continued fight against hunger in Missouri!  Led by Feeding America, Hunger Action Month is an annual nationwide campaign to spread awareness and inspire action to end hunger in America. 12% of...Lee mas

As advocates in Missouri much of our time is spent working the halls of Jefferson City, especially from January-May. Many of us use summer as a time to relax and take a breath. This summer, though, has not been a time of relaxation. Our work has merely shifted from Jefferson City to Washington DC.  This...Lee mas

Empower Missouri started over 100 years ago as an annual conference, making the job of planning and executing our annual Anti-Poverty Summit even more significant. Ask any nonprofit staff and they’ll tell you that conference execution is no joke. I have to uplift our team and give them a round of applause: 2022’s return to...Lee mas

In 2018, I read Peter Temin’s book The Vanishing Middle Class. He got a lot of press coverage when the book was released, in large part because of his thesis that households who are working to escape poverty really need about 20 years without catastrophe. He theorized that on an individual level, it is sometimes...Lee mas

At Empower Missouri, we know that we can change lives through effective and targeted policy change. Too many of our neighbors struggle to get their everyday needs met. Housing insecurity, hunger, over policing, historical exclusion: these negative outcomes we see today are a result of intentional, targeted, often racist policy decisions made generations ago. We...Lee mas

Last Saturday, June 11th, Empower Missouri supporters, coalition members, staff and other guests gathered at the Piper Palm House in St. Louis to honor our six Advocates of the Year. It was wonderful to be back together in person, the first time in a long time for many of us, and it would not have...Lee mas

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

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