Missouri To End Poverty

Our Vision

As Missourians, we envision a just society of shared responsibility by

 individuals, communities, business, and government in which all individuals

are respected, have opportunities to reach their full potential and to

participate in thriving, diverse, sustainable communities.

Missouri is a state rich in beauty and prosperity, in education and opportunity, in security and health, in values and vision. Yet, within our richness, lies poverty and fear, hunger and homelessness, unmet potential and despair.  Missourians to End Poverty is a group of 30 organizations statewide that have come together to plan a summit in June to discuss the issue of poverty and how we can create change for the benefit of all communities.  We have five pillars:

Food

      Missouri food banks report an increase in demand from 20% to 44% in 2009. Most of that increase is the result of families visiting the food bank for the first time.

Food Policy Paper

Health

      The number of uninsured people in Missouri rose to 739,000 in 2008.

Health Policy Paper

Education

       Approximately 20,500 students did not graduate from Missouri's high schools in 2009.  The lost lifetime earnings for that   class of dropouts alone are more than $5.3 billion.

Education Policy Paper 

Housing & Energy

Low income families pay an average of 46% of their income just for housing and energy.

Housing & Energy Policy Paper

Economic & Family Security

Missouri Lost 62,000 jobs in 2009. In addition, 781,942 Missourians live in poverty...263,484 of them are children.

Economic & Family Security

Who are Missourians to End Poverty?

 Legislative House Party Toolkit

2009 Poverty Summit

2009 Report to the Community

Additional information about Missourians to End Poverty

So now that the Summit is concluded, what are the Missourians to End Poverty working to achieve?  Well, the next meeting of the planning group will focus on the Regional summits that we hope to plan for areas around the state.  In order to facilitate this, we are working to get signatures from 5,000 Missourians on a resolution, requesting that Governor Jay Nixon engage a task force to focus on the effects of poverty in our communities.

Resolution

If you are intereseted in becomming a member of Missourians to End Poverty or would like to attend an upcoming meeting please contact Brenda Stegeman at (573) 634-2969 or at Bstegeman@communityaction.org