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

The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s newly released report, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, documents a shortage of 7 million affordable and available rental homes for our nation’s lowest-income renters, who make up one quarter of all renters in the U.S. This severe shortage forces 71% of our poorest families – seniors, people...Lee mas

First coined by sociologist Ruth Glass in the 1960s, gentrification has been part of the lexicon for those working in both economics and the affordable housing sector. Gentrification as an idea has changed over the years. For Glass it was the process wherein middle-class workers moved into the working-class neighborhoods of London, resulting in the...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

Last week, I offered testimony against a pair of bills in the Missouri House and Senate aimed at reducing homelessness. I first celebrated with the sponsors and the committee members that the Missouri legislature should be doing more to address our neighbors who live outside; homelessness is an untenable situation that is below the dignity...Lee mas

As I look back in my life, one specific policy has impacted nearly every decision I’ve ever made: Healthcare. I was a single mom during Obama’s first campaign. I worked two jobs which barely covered rent. Even while working more than 40 hours a week in a hospital, I didn’t have healthcare. I pieced together...Lee mas

As Joseph Llobera from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities stated in his report Child Support Cooperation Requirements in SNAP Are Unproven, Costly, and Put Families at Risk, “both the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) and the Child Support program improve the health and well-being of millions of low-income children every...Lee mas

The Initiative Petition (IP) process is an important tool in Missouri, though few voters fully understand its powers or limits. The IP allows voters who feel unrepresented by their elected officials to propose policy changes to fellow Missouri voters on the ballot. The process to get citizen-initiated petitions on the ballot is arduous. The Secretary...Lee mas

Empower Missouri is dedicated to ending poverty within our state. In our day-to-day work, we focus on three key areas: affordable housing, criminal justice, and nutrition access. It also means we have to look beyond those issues, to wages, systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, healthcare, education and more–including family planning. Access to reproductive healthcare is an...Lee mas

This special Weekly Perspective is a collaboration between MO Jobs with Justice Organizing Director Richard Von Glahn and Empower Missouri’s Policy Manager Christine Woody.  During his state of the state, Governor Mike Parson recommended a long overdue 5.5% cost of living adjustment for all state employees as well as a new minimum wage of $15...Lee mas