Drum roll please! We are eager to celebrate Empower Missouri’s current cohort of interns. Each of them assists in tackling advocacy projects to make a meaningful statewide impact and gains personal experience along the way. This blog post will serve as the interns’ spotlight, so we welcome you to join us in applauding these young and determined team members.
Meet Sydney Regan: Food Security Intern
Our Food Security Intern Sydney Regan comes all the way from San Jose, California, but is located in St. Louis studying Environmental Analysis and Spanish at Washington University. She was drawn to Empower Missouri because she is passionate about food systems and wanted to explore the application of her studies in the real world. She was thrilled by the idea of working with a nonprofit with such an important mission, and she’s excited to celebrate the wins during the challenging but rewarding journey of policy change. She told me, “Empower Missouri recognizes the systemic, intersectional nature of poverty and is fighting for so many of the issues I care about, and I was really drawn to the opportunity to be a part of this advocacy work.”
Sydney hopes to gain a better understanding of food systems inequality. She wants to broaden her understanding of food policy, including areas like grocery taxes and free school meals. In her role, Sydney analyzes and prepares data for presentations to state legislators, researches Missouri’s tax laws, and creates deliverable templates for others. She’s also hoping to collect stories from college students about SNAP and the barriers that have prevented them from utilizing the program. In her free time, Sydney is quite active, enjoying field hockey, pickleball, and weightlifting, and she also loves crocheting, playing piano, and watching TV.
Meet Roberta Morales: Community Justice Intern
Our Fall 2025 Community Justice Intern is Roberta Morales. Roberta is originally from South Elgin, Illinois, but is currently located in Colombia, Missouri. She was drawn to Empower Missouri because she finds the mission of working to secure basic human needs for every person in Missouri incredibly inspiring and impactful to the state. She resonates with the advocacy component of her position and is eager to learn from community organizations in her area.
Through hands-on work with Missouri communities, she also hopes to gain insight on the criminal legal system within the state. In her position, she is personally involved in policy work, doing preparatory activities for briefings and taking part in policy meetings. She helps conduct research, writes content, and attends webinars from experts in the field to soak up as much knowledge as she can. Outside of her meaningful work at Empower Missouri, Roberta enjoys reading, running, cooking, and thrifting.
Meet Ife Chigbogwu: Affordable Housing Intern
Empower Missouri’s Affordable Housing Intern this fall is Ife Chigbogwu. Ife is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, but currently resides in St. Louis while attending school. As a Missouri native, Ife is passionate about how systems like education and housing may affect her community. Ife says that “Empower Missouri’s commitment to addressing the root causes of poverty and inequity through policy change deeply resonates with me,” displaying her dedication to her community, advocacy, and positive change.
During her time with Empower Missouri, Ife is motivated to gain a better understanding of the legislative processes in Missouri and wants to learn effective ways to advocate for policy change within these systems. In her role as the Affordable Housing Intern, her daily tasks include assisting with planning and hosting housing-related town halls, drafting policy briefs and deliverable educational material, and researching communities impacted by housing-related struggles. When she’s not working or studying, Ife loves vintage shopping, singing in her acapella group, and hanging out with friends.
Meet Molly Morton: Communications Intern
Our Fall 2025 Communications Intern is Molly Morton! Originally from Naperville, Illinois, Molly attended Washington University in St. Louis for undergrad, and is continuing her education at WashU to obtain her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy. She was drawn to Empower Missouri because she is enthusiastic about personally engaging with her community, building connections, and using her privilege to advocate for legislative changes.
She is excited to explore the intersection of occupational therapy and community advocacy, as she believes that occupational justice is a human right, meaning that everyone should have the opportunity to do the things they need and want to do in life. She says, “Often this right is infringed upon when people are oppressed by unfair systems, so I want to be a part of advocating for change.” Her role as Communications Intern has her contributing to educational digital campaigns, creating design templates, crafting blog posts like this one, and tracking data to bolster Empower Missouri’s policy teams. Outside of her work at Empower Missouri, she enjoys working out, doing arts and crafts, baking, thrifting, and hosting dinner parties with friends.
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