Empower Missouri is dedicated to ensuring every household in Missouri is food secure.
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. We believe the key to attaining food security for all Missourians is through policy change.
Our work to ensure food security is accomplished in three ways:
Coalition building is the foundation of our advocacy work. The Food Security Coalition, led by our two food security policy managers, is comprised of individuals and organizations from all areas throughout the state who work together to create, promote, and protect evidence-based best practices that increase food security.
We leverage Legislator Education as a powerful advocacy tool. Our team ensures Missouri legislators have accurate and up-to-date information. This advocacy tool enables them to make informed decisions when drafting, filing, and passing legislation.
Empower Missouri offers Advocacy Training to organizations and individuals. Our team provides opportunities such as the Week and Day of Action, Back-to-Session Bootcamp, and our annual Anti-Poverty Advocates Summit to individuals interested in enhancing their advocacy skills. We also offer the Advocacy Accelerator and Advocacy Alliance programs, available to organizations that wish to incorporate more in-depth training in advocacy.
HUNGER AND POVERTY SNAPSHOT
THE NEED
Poverty is the best predictor of food insecurity in the United States. Median household income, unemployment rate, and percent of single-parent households are also closely associated with food insecurity. Having sufficient, nutritious food, especially during childhood, is essential to living a healthy and successful life. Food security during childhood increases academic, cognitive, behavioral, and mental health outcomes as well as overall lifetime earnings.
12.7% of Missouri households are food insecure. To help support their families and to make ends meet each month, many of these families supplement nutrition sources through private charities and government-funded nutrition programs.
In Missouri:
Poverty Indicators:
Food Security
Health Outcomes Related to Food Insecurity:
Our neighbors living in poverty often face limitations that reduce their ability to access sufficient, nutritious food. When food prices rise or incomes fall, there is a risk of hidden hunger. This can cause a switch to lower-priced foods that fail to adequately meet nutritional needs.
THE PLAN – Ending Hunger in Missouri
Creating a food-secure Missouri requires private as well as public support. Private charities can and do play a role in addressing hunger in our communities, but they cannot do it alone. Our government should ensure every person in our country has enough resources to be able to access enough healthy food to support an active and healthy lifestyle. There needs to be comprehensive policy and programmatic strategies at the governmental level to fully address the need.
Empower Missouri recommends these long-term proposals to address poverty and food insecurity in Missouri:
Streamline nutrition program administration for the state of Missouri and streamline access to all safety net programs for families.
Increase outreach and education about the benefits of WIC, with increased participation in the program as the ultimate goal.
Expand access to affordable and nutritious food throughout the state by addressing areas of low food access through a food systems approach.
Address barriers for seniors and people with disabilities in accessing nutrition programs.
Advancing economic development initiatives and policies.
Increase access to free school meals for Missouri children.
Programs like SNAP, WIC, and School Meals are instrumental in increasing food security and reducing poverty. Advocating for protections and changes to these programs to enhance participation and their efficiency is vital to a food-secure Missouri. Our team not only shares program information and updates with the public and our coalition, but we also have work groups dedicated specifically to these programs.
Our policy work involves building relationships with legislators to help advocate for the creation of statutes that will increase food security throughout the state. This process includes ensuring legislators are equipped with the information necessary to promote policies that will create positive change and discourage policies that do not. Our teams also testify in support of policies that promote food security and testify in objection to policies that do not. Our advocacy training opportunities offer effective testimony training to multiply our impact by increasing and amplifying the voices of advocates during hearings. Petitions, sign-ons, and empowering citizens to contact their legislators are all powerful tools we employ in our policy work.
Our Food Security Coalition is staffed by Christine Woody and Amanda Berry. Click HERE to view our events page to learn when the next Food Security Coalition meeting will be held, or HERE to find more resources to learn and advocate for food security in Missouri.
The Food Security Coalition also works with many other national partners including: Food Research and Action Center, The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Bread for the World, Coalition on Human Needs.
Use the form below to let us know that you’re interested in joining our Food Security Coalition.
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