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

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

I’ve been with Empower Missouri nearly 4 years now, and since I started every legislative session we work against work hour tracking for SNAP. It feels almost like a bad cartoon at this point, as we go ‘round and ‘round on the same issue: Work Requirements. On the surface it may sound good, individuals who...Lee mas

Later today, the House Committee on Downsizing Government will hear HB 2085, a bill that would prevent households which receive TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) from withdrawing those benefits in cash. However, cash is a necessary resource, especially for households in poverty. This bill will increase the burdens placed on our neighbors in poverty,...Lee mas

In over 120 years, Empower Missouri has advanced and passed many successful policies. One of the most impactful was a significant decrease in the food sales tax led by our Hunger Task Force back in 1999. Our leaders identified that issue because our task force members were keenly aware of how sales tax is an...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