Vision

Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE) believes that Missouri is positioned at a unique intersection of social, economic and environmental injustice. We believe that as corporate power continues unabated expansion and the gap between the rich and the poor widens, there has never been a better time for our low-income communities to come together and fight back.

MORE seeks to be a powerful organization of low- and moderate-income people, building strength in our communities. We work in relationship with other organizations pushing our allies to engage in creative direct action with us to foster good policy changes. MORE seeks to be part of a movement that cuts across, class, age and race lines that is envisioning and building the world in which we would like to live.

CORE PRINCIPLES

We commit to sparking honest and open discussions about what kinds of neighborhoods, communities and cities we want to inhabit. We need to be able to dream a little bit, and not just focus on what we think is possible. We need to talk about what the world should look like in 10, 20 and even 40 years. And then we need to work to make it happen.

We commit to doing the difficult work of community organizing because more people means more power. Through rigorous daily organizing, we can engage thousands of people. We will work to continue to find new and innovative organizing models to reach even more people.

We commit to fostering the leadership of people of color and low-income people within our organization. In a time of continued in justice around both race and class, we cannot imagine building a movement any other way.

We commit to creative direct action as a necessary means of confronting power and making change.

We commit to recognizing the interconnectedness of the struggles for race and gender equality, economic justice, queer rights, environmental sustainability and peace. We believe that fighting for Justice means addressing these as intersectional and related; we seek to build a movement with this in mind.

Although MORE is a relatively new organization, established in 2010, we draw on a tradition of community organizing in Missouri that is nearly 40 years old. Our staff and leadership have come out of labor and community organizations dedicated to justice for working people. In 2010, we instigated 30 different direct actions, ranging from jobs/unemployment to environmental justice. Through direct action and community organizing we brought many elected officials and CEOs to the table, ready to negotiate on our issues of concern.

MORE believes that in order to create change in our society, we must build an organization that is reflective of the kind of world in which we want to live. We must unite our communities and restore power to the people through organizing.

We organize for power by building a broad base through traditional models of community organizing. We knock on doors, we ally ourselves with existing organizations, we host community events and we organize around issues of concern to our communities.

Leadership-in-Training Program

We also believe that organizing for power means drawing from the depth of already existing relationships in our communities. We believe that in order to fight corporate power and build a just and equitable world must activate our friends, neighbors, co-workers and families to fight for Justice. True change will come from working people - we must organize ourselves to build our own economy. In order to do this, our leaders strive to build a base within their communities while developing organizing skills and political consciousness through popular education trainings.

Leadership Committee

We believe that our campaigns, direct actions and movement building initiatives are most effective when developed by a team of leaders. The committee is comprised of those leaders who have completed the leadership in training program and represent a base of MORE members. We seek to prioritize organizing work and believe those leaders who engage the daily challenges of organizing and moving a base are best fit to make decisions about our work.

Direct Action

We believe in direct action as a critical means of negotiating with and confronting power. We have come to realize that corporations and governments are unlikely or unwilling to change without direct confrontation. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, "You cannot depend upon American institutions to function without pressure.  Any real change in the status quo depends on continued creative action to sharpen the conscience of the nation."