In 2018, Missourians resoundingly passed a phased increase to the minimum wage to $12/hour over five years. When the bill passed, it was estimated that 600,000 Missourians would benefit from an increase in their wages, meaning that around 15 percent of Missouri adults were making the minimum wage.  The plan called for wages to rise...Read More

On March 28, the Missouri House approved its version of the $29.23 billion state operating budget for the 2020 fiscal year. The budget process now continues on the Senate side of the building, with final agreement due by May 10, a week before adjournment of the 2019 Regular Session of the General Assembly. There is...Read More

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If you read the Empowering You! newsletter that we released on 01/31, you had a chance to meet the dynamic four interns who are working with us this semester. As a supervisor of some of these interns, I’ve found one of the most frequent questions that I am asked regarding the General Assembly is “Can they do...Read More

Dear Advocate, On January 16, I heard Gov. Mike Parson’s first State of the State address, and I had a conversation with a fast food restaurant cashier. What they had to say can tell us a lot about the importance of dreams – and of facing reality. Empower Missouri advocates can be encouraged by a...Read More

January 11, 2019 Dear Advocate, What does it take to pass improved public policy in Missouri, including reforming old laws that were ill-conceived that have been harming the quality of our common life? It is a lot like gardening. We must be persistent in researching what kinds of seeds can work on our particular piece of...Read More

[featured][featured_person name=”Denise Lieberman” title=”Missouri Projection Election Coordinator” image=”/uploads/2018/12/deniselieberman.jpeg” description=”Denise will provide breaking news updates from this week’s court decision regarding Missouri’s photo ID voter law and how to protect the vote on November 6.” organization-logo=”/uploads/2018/12/advancementprojectlogo.png” ][featured_person name=”Dylan Grundman” title=”Senior Policy Analyst” image=”/uploads/2018/12/Dylan-Grundman-300×300.jpg” description=”Dylan will share ITEP’s Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All...Read More

[featured][featured_person name=”Justin Goddard” image=”/uploads/2018/08/j_godard.png” description=”Justin will bring us up to date on developments with the Fiscal Year 2019 Transportation and Urban Development (THUD) budget, the introduction of the Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity (HOME) Act and other recent hot topics related to housing and homelessness in our nation’s capital.” organization-logo=”/uploads/2018/08/NLIHC-logo.png” ][featured_person name=”Laura Barrett” image=”/uploads/2018/08/laurabarrett.jpeg” description=”Laura...Read More

On Today’s Call: [featured][featured_person name=”Sarah Hackman” image=”/uploads/2018/11/SarahHackman-WEB.jpg” description=”Sarah, Strategic Communications Manager, coordinated secondary research efforts for the 2018 Missouri Poverty Report and will present that report to call participants.Click this during call: http://www.communityaction.org/poverty-reports/” organization-logo=”/uploads/2018/11/MissouriCAN_TransparentLogo.png” ][featured_person name=”Ana Hicks” image=”/uploads/2018/11/AnaHicks.jpg” description=”Ana Hicks, State Strategies Manager Food Assistance Division, supports state non-profit organizations in our efforts to strengthen and improve...Read More

But when was America great? Was it when business ruled the country and profits came first? If so, that was the age Mark Twain named Gilded.Read More