TANF, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, is a federal cash assistance program for low income families with children that provides for basic needs. Families who qualify receive money on a debit-like card that they can use to help cover their monthly expenses, like food, rent, clothing, and transportation. TANF’s History In 1911, a version...Read More

Each year as Legislative Session begins, there is a lot of “crystal ball gazing” in our state capital. The rumors come fast and furious, and various pundits try to anticipate how things will turn out when the General Assembly adjourns in May, even before a single bill is heard before a committee. There’s a temptation...Read More

Empower Missouri’s Affordable Housing Coalition recently released their 2020 legislative priorities. You can read it here. Some things on the list are very straight forward, some are really big asks, and some are common sense. However, one in particular is a bit more complicated.  Cities and states have a slate of tools available to them...Read More

Public comment letters are an increasingly effective tool in legislative advocacy at the federal level, with advocates across the country utilizing this format as a way to submit feedback to the government and make their voices heard.Read More

Housing is the key to improving these children’s outcomes and also helps to lower their healthcare costs. Children’s Health Watch provided examples of case studies where healthcare costs decreased by 90% when children were provided with stable housing.Read More

Our monthly “Under the Dome and Around the State” (#UDAS) briefing call for justice advocates covers a few topics and keeps interested Missourians updated on legislative and state-wide issues that Empower Missouri works on. This month, we’ll be talking with Joey Lindstrom, Manager for Field Organizing from NLIHC in Washington D.C.  who will be sharing the...Read More

The Disparate Impact rule says that, even if it seems to apply equally to everyone, if a policy impacts protected classes more than others, it is discriminatory. A new proposal from HUD would effectively dismantle this important and needed rule.Read More

The September Empowering You Newsletter can be downloaded by clicking on the thumbnail below, and you can explore it’s contents by clicking on any of the links under the thumbnail. Putting an SRO in every Missouri school won’t make them safer – but here’s what might – Conner Kerrigan “Missouri has failed it’s voters” – Voter...Read More

In August 2019, Empower Missouri’s Executive Director, Jeanette Mott Oxford, offered testimony in a special hearing on Criminal Justice. “I think sometimes we wish we had a magic mirror, and we could hold it up to people and it would say, ‘I see racism in you. I see racism in you. No racism in you.’...Read More

Our Affordable Housing Coalition will be meeting in-person at the Columbia Public Library. We will briefly explore various policy solutions and make final selections for which priorities this coalition will focus on in the 2020 legislative session. We will leave with a shared vision helping us reach our goal of a safe, accessible, and affordable...Read More