FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEDecember 13, 2019Contact: Conner Kerrigan, Communications Director815-263-1261 (cell)[email protected] JEFFERSON CITY, MO…On December 11th, 2019, Representatives Holly Rehder (R – Sikeston) and Tracy McCreery (D – St. Louis) filed HBs 1691 & 1692, respectively. Both bills aim to modernize Missouri’s outdated and medically inaccurate criminal statutes concerning HIV.  Currently, Missouri and more than 30...Read More

On Monday, December 1st, pre-filing began for the Missouri State General Assembly. This means that, if they wanted to, legislators could begin filing the bills that they will be working to pass through the legislative process and turn into law during the 2020 session.  The pre-filing period is an exciting time for organizations like Empower...Read More

The process of making comments on proposed federal rule or regulation changes has been an important but underutilized tool for a long time. In recent months, however, organizations like Empower Missouri have started to urge the advocates we work with to submit these comments on various proposed changes that impact the safety net. Empower Missouri...Read More

Hunger is not a partisan issue. This is one of the messages that was interwoven throughout the Building Blocks for Missouri's Success Conference that was held last weekend in Columbia. It was a conference full of hope and plans of action to move us forward in our fight against hunger in our state!Read More

The St. Louis City Police Department covers one of the largest and most racial diverse jurisdictions in Missouri - roughly half of the city’s population is Black, and the other half is White, according to census data from 2010, the most recent available.Read More

I have been learning about and advocating on safety net programs since I started at Empower Missouri 13 years ago, but have never really learned the history and inner workings of the TANF program.Read More

Each year, the months of September and October seem to serve as conference season. In the last 60 days, each staff member from Empower Missouri has attended at least one summit, gathering, or conference on a variety of topics. JMO, our executive director, and Christine Woody, our Senior Policy and Advocacy Lead, recently attended a...Read More

The image used in this article is from NBC News. Matthew Charles embodies the mission statement of Empower Missouri’s Criminal Justice Issues Team. We advocate for: Healing rather than vengeance;Community-based alternatives to prison;Increased public safety through preventive activities that address social issues of people at risk; and Systemic and individual responses that enable persons who commit...Read More

On October 26, the Missouri HIV Justice Coalition met for its final strategic planning meeting of the year. Just over half of the group was present in Kansas City and engaged in a full day of activities and conversations looking ahead to the next legislative session and beyond. The underlying theme of the day was...Read More

On Tuesday, October 8th, The Subcommittee on Health Care Reform held a hearing for “Discussion on Medicaid and Medicaid expansion.” Rep. Helms from District 135 in Springfield is the chair of the committee. I testified on behalf of Empower Missouri, and you can find a copy of my testimony here. You can find our full...Read More