What I Learned as a First-Time Attendee of Empower Missouri’s Anti-Poverty Advocates Summit (and 125th Anniversary Dinner)!

Last week, I had the pleasure to attend Empower Missouri’s 2026 Anti-Poverty Advocates Summit and 125th Anniversary Dinner. Being a first-time attendee to a conference as impactful and important as the Anti-Poverty Advocates Summit will always come with its fair share of learning, networking, and preparation, especially as we celebrate the momentous 125th year of Empower Missouri’s presence in the state. I’ve been to a few conferences in the past, however, my preparation for this one came with an extra layer of tailoring in that I wasn’t just a first-time participant of the summit, I also attended the conference as Empower’s newest staff member. Some introduction to the team, huh?

For those who don’t know me, my name is Mariah Oke-Thomas, and I began with Empower Missouri just three weeks ago as a Communications Manager. Being based in Kansas City and working fully remote means that your team bonding mostly takes place through a computer screen. When I learned that I would be attending and assisting with the Anti-Poverty Advocates Summit, I was super excited about the opportunity to finally meet everyone I work with face-to-face. Although preparations for the conference were in place long before I started with Empower, a day prior to the Summit, our team hit the ground running in making sure everything was in place to make the next two days an unforgettable and worthwhile experience for our advocates across the region who traveled to Columbia for the two-day conference. 

If you haven’t had the chance to be a part of the planning and executing of a conference, I’ll let you in on something: It’s not easy, especially when most of that planning has to occur through online zoom meetings. There were a lot of late nights put into this endeavor, and, as someone who joined the fold later in the process, I was shocked by the sheer amount of dedication that was put into making sure the Summit and Dinner were a success. Despite some setbacks and the many hours of blowing up balloons, putting together programs, heavy lifting of many boxes, and printing..oh so much printing, I couldn’t have asked for a better first, face-to-face bonding experience with my team. Through the long days and all the behind-the-scenes work, I got to see firsthand just how much care and commitment they bring to the work we do. 

Attending the conference was something I’ll never forget. I was able to meet many people representing several places throughout the state of Missouri, I learned more about their missions, the organizations they represent, and the current issues impacting their towns that they are working to positively change. This experience allowed me to put a face to some of our fantastic partners that make what we do at Empower possible.

I attended breakout sessions covering a variety of different topic areas, from prison reform and the importance of revamping a system that sets newly released individuals up for failure, to poverty and how its consequences contribute to trauma in both adults and children. We also explored food insecurity and positive eating habits, as well as the neglect within affordable housing, particularly for people with disabilities who are disproportionately more likely to be denied fair and adequate living accommodations. And those were only the sessions I was able to attend. There were so many fascinating and important topics covered throughout the various sessions, each sparking essential conversations on how institutional failures in our system become longitudinal, and how we as advocates can bring greater attention to these issues and work toward meaningful change.

The conference also featured insightful keynote speakers. Dr. Debra Green opened the Summit with a historical analysis on the Great Depression and a powerful reminder of the importance of learning history rather than repeating it. This presentation worked in harmony with our day two keynote from Patrilie Hernandez, who stressed the importance of realizing privilege so that we can better advocate for those who are less advantaged. They closed with a message of hope for the future, emphasizing how, in other cultures, the end of certain cycles and systems aren’t always something to fear, and challenged us to think on what it means to, “treat an ‘ending’ as a threshold, rather than a wall.”

I felt a spark of hope as we awarded several individuals at our 125th Anniversary Dinner in areas of affordable housing, food security, rural advocacy, community justice, and health and welfare. We also honored emerging advocates and presented lifetime advocacy awards to Phil Minden & Julie Birkenmaier who have supported Empower Missouri since they were in college! Seeing the awardees on stage, hearing their stories, and learning what encouraged them to enter these spaces was inspiring. The nature of advocacy work is not easy, and it is certainly  not something to take lightly. It takes a strong individual who can be met with a bunch of “no’s” and still choose to keep going anyway. As I reflect on my experience, I saw a lot of that resilience. I heard a lot of stories that made me wonder: how does someone keep fighting despite all the rejections? How do they keep their hope? Wayne Crawford, recipient of the Sustaining Impact in Affordable Housing award, may have answered that best when he said, “If I don’t, then who will?”

To be in advocacy work means to step up. It means recognizing that there is a mission beyond you that needs tending to. The process of getting there will not be easy, and there will be many obstacles put in place to make it harder, but strength and determination can make even the most difficult things possible. It was truly humbling to be in a room full of so many changemakers who chose to step up, and continue to keep stepping up. Even days after the last day of the conference, I still find myself amazed by the individuals I met.

In a week from now, I’ll have been a part of the Empower team for one month. That is a small, small percentage of the organization’s 125 years. Yet, in the few weeks I’ve been a part of the team, I have learned so much, not only about our organization, but of the many people who have helped us get to where we are today. I have become aware of how Empower has been able to stick around for so long: resilience. A core part of advocacy work is resilience, and resilience is made indestructible by a strong group of people who believe in and contribute to the possibility of a better tomorrow.