“We Are Here to Stay”: The Fight for Cedarwood & Rosewood Tenants Jami has spent her life fighting for dignity in a world that often seems to forget people like her. Born with spinal muscular dystrophy and diagnosed at the age of four, doctors predicted she wouldn’t survive beyond five years old. But Jami defied...Lee mas

Zachary’s story begins in Topeka, Kansas, where he was born into a world shaped by poverty and housing insecurity. For Zach, housing justice is deeply personal. His parents divorced shortly after he was born. So he, his younger brother, and two older sisters primarily lived with his mother in Central Topeka, a neighborhood dotted with...Lee mas

The Missouri Housing Trust Fund (MHTF) has played a pivotal role in addressing the housing needs of the state’s most vulnerable populations for more than 30 years. Administered by the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC), the MHTF provides essential funding for various housing-related services, including rental assistance, emergency aid, home repairs, and the construction and...Lee mas

Tonight, I’m catching a flight to Washington, D.C. to meet with staffers of Missouri’s congressional delegation and express Missourians’ opposition to the $300 billion in proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Congress’s “one big, beautiful bill.” Empower Missouri’s focus has traditionally been on state-level policy, but the proposed cuts to Medicaid...Lee mas

The 2025 Missouri legislative session ended last week with some controversy and tension as the Senate invoked Previous Question, or “PQ”, to cut off debate. The Senate employed this “nuclear option” to force a vote on two bills that were in direct contradiction to laws passed by the majority of Missouri voters in the November...Lee mas

Empower Missouri is seeking dedicated leaders who are deeply committed to our work to change laws and policies that perpetuate cycles of poverty. Applications are now open for our 2025-2026 Board of Directors. Board meetings are mostly held virtually, with occasional in-person events, so this opportunity is a good fit for someone located anywhere in...Lee mas

This week, committees in the U.S. House of Representatives released major reconciliation proposals with cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs. As the title suggests, these proposals will have big impacts for Missouri families, our healthcare, our nutrition, and our state budget. The federal government controls the budgets for most major anti-poverty programs. Unfortunately, many...Lee mas

Date: April 23, 2025To: Senator Jill Carter and Members of the Senate Families Seniors and Health CommitteeFrom: Christine Woody, Food Security Policy Manager, Empower MissouriRe: Our opposition to SB 662 My name is Christine Woody. I am the Food Security Policy Manager for a statewide non-profit organization called Empower Missouri. We lead a statewide coalition...Lee mas

Imagine a food system that breaks down silos, fosters innovation and collaboration, and creates sustainable food access for all Missourians that is supported through a robust, equity-focused statewide Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). This is exactly what the Missouri Rural Food Access Partnership came together to accomplish on April 3rd when 33 participants representing 23...Lee mas

This week, Governor Kehoe signed SB 4, an omnibus utility bill that changes financing for utility companies. The bill adds more ways for utility companies to shift costs to consumers and increase utility bills. Empower Missouri denounces this change for these reasons: Consumers Council of Missouri estimates that SB 4 will raise utility bills by...Lee mas