On September 10, the U.S. Senate took up and failed to pass a $650 billion package of relief for our nation of 331 million people, rocked to the core by the coronavirus pandemic and related economic downturn. This is a sliver of the $3.4 trillion in aid approved by the U.S. House in May and...Read More

It is no surprise to anyone I interact with, but I really love data. In college, I had a professor thank me for always coming back to an evidence base when making policy recommendations, a tendency which has served me well at Empower Missouri. I enjoy dissecting data and holding on to it, conceptualizing it...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

Today’s report from Missouri’s State Auditor shows that Missouri is continuing to decline in the revenue strength needed to withstand stresses like the current COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn. It is time that legislators take a serious look at Missouri’s unfair, outdated and inadequate personal income tax system. When “the common good” is inadequately funded, our state is...Read More

Happy Juneteenth! Empower Missouri is among organizations that has begun a discussion about amending our personnel manual to create a paid staff holiday for Juneteenth. We have not adopted that policy yet, but the deliberative process is just one of the many ways that our staff and Board are attempting to fulfill the mandate of...Read More

Whether you have been part of the Empower Missouri advocacy network for a long time or just joined our mailing list this week, there has never been a more important time to be a social justice advocate. Our planet is rocked by three crises simultaneously that interact with each other with synergistic power: The novel...Read More

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the connection between unemployment, poverty and food insecurity has been clear. One of the best indicators of food insecurity is poverty. At the end of 2019, Missouri’s food insecurity rate was 12% while its poverty level was 13.2%, both above the national average. At that point, according to...Read More

To combat the racial disparities, the Coalition is calling not only for an end to racialized policing but also for the passage of the Fourth Amendment Affirmation Act to move beyond data collection to consequences for officers who engage in racial profiling. JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — On Friday, May 29, 2020, Attorney General Eric Schmitt...Read More

In the past few months, we have all watched in shock and disbelief as precious lives have been taken from African Americans as a result of police brutality. We are outraged by these tragic events! The horrific killing of George Floyd, preserved on video, the police shooting of Breonna Taylor and the beating of Marvia...Read More