The beginning of another school year is a time of transition for families. Busy schedules, classroom struggles, the everyday highs and lows of both growing up and parenting–it can be a lot for any family to navigate. But for families separated by prison walls, every challenge is compounded, and both the children and the adults...Lee mas

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – 31 August 2026 — The Missouri Department of Social Services’ announced today that it will require additional documentation for SNAP eligibility. This policy change comes at a troubling time when almost 18,000 children in Missouri have already lost food assistance under the additional requirements imposed on SNAP recipients under HR1. Beginning...Lee mas

On Friday, August 28th, 2026, Missouri took an important step in the right direction as new voting-rights legislation restored the right to vote for approximately 41,000 people on probation and parole. The legislation was championed by State Representative Melanie Stinnett, and was signed by Governor Mike Kehoe on July 13th, 2026. Rep. Stinnett had advocated...Lee mas

For the last several months we’ve been celebrating our 125th anniversary year. This fall, our Anti Poverty Advocates Summit will be the height of celebrating. Our organization started as an annual conference, the Missouri Conference on Charities and Corrections, with our first-ever event being held on January 10 and 11 in 1901 at the Downtown...Lee mas

In 1984 Missouri voters first approved a conservation sales tax of 0.1%. The Parks, Soil and Water Sales Tax applies to every taxable sale in Missouri, including groceries, and the revenue generated is designated only for this purpose. Some of the fund goes to soil preservation to correct and prevent erosion. In 1982 Missouri had...Lee mas

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – 9 July 2026 — Earlier today, Governor Kehoe signed SB 1421, an omnibus criminal justice package that includes automated record sealing for eligible drug offenses. With this signing, approximately 200,000 Missourians with eligible records will finally see an end to a lifetime of collateral consequences. Under SB 1421, sealing of eligible...Lee mas

If you could ask someone running for office about affordable housing, food security, or community justice, what would you ask? That was the challenge for attendees at Empower Missouri’s June in-person coalition meetings. In early June, I braved the construction zones of I-70 to attend the three meetings in Columbia. Members of our three coalitions,...Lee mas

This August you’ll be able to vote in statewide primary elections to decide the party candidates for your area, as well as a few ballot issues. Now, my dad often skipped these elections, he wanted to let the party diehards work out for themselves who they thought best represented their issues. A more independent voter,...Lee mas

Hello everyone, I am GP Worley. I am excited to be joining the Empower Missouri team as the inaugural Charles Ellwood Graduate Fellow! As I start my position, I am wrapping up my Master of Social Work program at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, where I cultivated my...Lee mas

Last year, when Empower’s staff and board began discussions on how we wanted to mark our quasquicentennial (isn’t that a fun word?!) this year, there was one thing that I knew for sure– I wanted our celebrations to be deeply steeped in Empower’s history. One of the true joys of working at Empower is consistently...Lee mas