By now you might have already heard the news – Missouri has become the 14th state to pass Clean Slate legislation! SB 1421, an omnibus criminal justice bill, passed during the final weeks of the 2026 legislative session and is waiting on the Governor’s signature to officially become law. While only applicable to drug offenses,...Read More

Key housing programs are facing cuts as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) budget process. The House Appropriations subcommittee released its HUD spending bill for fiscal year 2027 on May 20th and like last year, the committee adopted many of the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to housing programs while rejecting...Read More

As the Missouri legislative session ends, attention is turning back to Washington D.C., where decisions made this year could dramatically reshape how Missouri fights hunger and poverty. One of the biggest federal debates underway is the next Farm Bill. The Farm Bill, which is traditionally renewed every five years, is often described as the nation’s...Read More

The 2026 Missouri Legislative Session ended with drama – this time in a good way. Three key policies entered the final week as almost-passed…but not quite. Clean Slate, land banks improvements, and Food is Medicine legislation were all passed by at least one chamber by the end of April but had not yet fully cleared...Read More

Governor Kehoe and some Republican legislators are advancing a new tax plan for Missouri that boils down to swapping out Missouri’s income tax (currently capped at 4.7%) for a greatly expanded sales tax on the products and services Missourians purchase every day. Our partners at Missouri Budget Project estimate that over 80% of Missourians would pay more in...Read More

January 28, 2026 To: Senator Brown and Members, Senate Economic Workforce and Development Committee From: Amanda Berry, Food Security Policy Manager, Empower Missouri Re: Support for SB 1017 Empower Missouri is the state’s largest anti-poverty advocacy organization, working across rural and urban communities to advance policies that promote economic stability, affordability, and opportunity for Missouri...Read More

Daphne is a 58 year old resident of St. Louis, Missouri. Over the course of fifteen years, she has watched her health, the cost of living, and her neighborhood shift around her. Most notably, the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 caused a dramatic shift in her life. She has witnessed how difficult it can be to...Read More

On July 31, 2025, more than 30 cross-sector partners gathered in Columbia, Missouri, meeting inside the incredible new Food Bank Market at The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri. Convened as the Missouri Rural Food Access Partnership, our charge was clear: to understand how the newly-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is reshaping...Read More

The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, commonly known as WIC, is under threat of significant cuts by the federal government. Right now, the House Appropriations Committee has advanced a budget proposal that follows the Trump administration’s plan to slash WIC benefits. Specifically, it would cut the fruit and vegetable portion of WIC...Read More