For Immediate Release December 2, 2020 (JEFFERSON CITY, MO…) On World AIDS Day, 2020, a bipartisan group of Missouri legislators held a 1 p.m. virtual press conference via Zoom and Facebook to announce the filing of legislation aimed at ending transmission of HIV in our state. They were joined by People Living with HIV and...Read More

Media Advisory November 25, 2020 What: On World AIDS Day, a press conference will be held with Senator-elect Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston), Senator-Elect Greg Razer (D-Kansas City), Representative Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Peters), the Missouri HIV Justice Coalition, and other allied groups. Legislation will be pre-filed that morning and later in December that would modernize our state’s...Read More

Empower Missouri has fought for all Missourians to have basic human needs and equal justice since 1901, and there have undoubtedly been many challenges to address throughout those decades. But 2020 has been an historic year in which wave upon wave of crisis arrived, placing stress on governmental, community, household, and our staff and volunteer...Read More

The 2020 General Election has come and gone, although the vote counting and legal actions over a variety of issues are apt to continue for some time. Whether you are happy or sad about the outcome of races and ballot measures in Missouri, one thing is certain: Our advocacy for social justice will continue to...Read More

As always, the happenings in Jefferson City these past two months have been full of twists, turns and surprises. And it is not over yet, so keep taking those motion sickness pills! It all began back on July 15, 2020, when Governor Parson issued a proclamation to convene an Extraordinary Session on Violent Crime. Thus,...Read More

Today the Missouri House of Representatives gave final passage to five of six bills heard by House committees on August 17. The bills were crafted as a response to Gov. Mike Parson’s call to a Special Session on Violent Crime, but none address the root causes of violence. We believe that the witness of the past...Read More

In the spring of 2020, we saw the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, a pandemic unlike anything since 1918. The pandemic forced the closure of cities, packed emergency rooms, and claimed the lives of thousands. Spring also served as the backdrop for the civil rights movement’s resurgence after the tragic death of George Floyd, and,...Read More

Missouri’s General Assembly and executive branch have moved into political chaos, following a pair of racially insensitive proclamations to Special Session by Governor Mike Parson. These came on the heels of signing Senate Bill 600, a “get tough on crime” package of measures that repeat mass incarceration failures of the past that had racially disparate...Read More

We were extremely disappointed when Gov. Parson announced on July 6 that he would be signing Senate Substitute for Senate Bill 600 (SB 600), legislation that enacts mandatory minimums and stacking of sentences and creates new classes of crimes.  We said so in a statewide press release, in a guest column in the St. Louis...Read More

We at Empower Missouri are extremely disappointed to learn that Gov. Parson plans to sign Senate Bill 600. This reverses the positive direction that his administration appeared to be heading in his 2019 State of the State Address. At that time Gov. Parson said: “As a former sheriff and law enforcement officer for over 22...Read More