In November Empower Missouri will host its annual Anti-Poverty Advocates Summit, bringing together advocates from across the state to explore the many ways poverty impacts our neighbors’ lives, and how effective policy change can serve as a long-term solution. We’re excited to welcome Annie Watson to open the Summit with our morning keynote! About Annie...Read More

In December we will be gearing up for the 2024 legislative session that will begin in January. Join us for this Friday Forum to get a preview of legislation that has been pre-filed and what we’ll be focusing on in 2024. Empower Missouri’s Friday Forums are our monthly online educational offerings for Missourians to build...Read More

Missouri workers can thank labor unions for the 5-day, 40-hour work week, unemployment benefits, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and workers compensation laws. Thanks to the efforts of unions, workers have achieved higher wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions, but their work is not over. Join us and Andrew Hutchinson of Laborers...Read More

Nearly 14,000 Missouri children were in the custody of the Missouri Children’s Division in 2022, with a variety of health and mental health needs. The goal of the foster system is to provide safe and caring temporary homes for children while their family works towards their goals and reunification. Years of budget cuts have resulted...Read More

In Missouri, working families with low wages generally pay a higher share of their income in state and local taxes than do the highest earners. The working families tax credit helps make Missouri’s tax structure more fair, further incentivizes work, and provides multiple long term benefits for children throughout the state, however, unlike the federal...Read More

In my years at Empower Missouri I have often heard from nonprofit staff at all levels that they know that policy change is integral to ending poverty, but also that they struggle to engage in it. Not-for-profit organizations are often functioning above their actual capacity with direct service work and other funded programming, and building...Read More

Join us for Advocacy 101 + Coalition Introductions. The first hour of each session will be spent familiarizing ourselves with the legislative process in Missouri and learning how we can impact policy change to end poverty. The final 30 minutes will be training geared specifically to the policy implications of our three coalitions: Affordable Housing,...Read More

For years, we have been fighting a narrative that giving money and support to people trying to make ends meet without requiring them to work discourages them from working. This is simply untrue and results in policies that are based on unfounded biases and increases the risk of people of all ages and abilities failing...Read More

The 2023 legislative session will end today at 6PM, so there’s only a few hours remaining for the legislature to pass any final bills before the clock runs out.  There will be several opportunities over the next week to debrief the session with Empower Missouri.  On Monday, look for a special email with our end-of-session...Read More

With just four weeks to go in Missouri’s legislative session, our Senators and Representatives are hard at work debating legislation that could have long-term consequences for all Missourians. Many of these bills have had the benefit of long committee hearings, with many folks traveling from around the state to speak with their legislators about the...Read More