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Articles

Explore the latest ideas, insights, and updates on the issues shaping opportunity in Mississippi.

Empower Mississippi is hiring a Vice President for Public Policy in Ridgeland, Mississippi. Real people, real problems, real solutions. Quality Education, Meaningful Work, Safe Communities.

We’re Hiring: Vice President for Public Policy

Two bridges carrying road and rail across the Mississippi River at sunset, seen from the air
Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

What I’m Looking for in Mississippi’s Next Governor

Stewarding the American Dream

Quality Education

Charter Schools Outperform Districts on 3rd Grade Reading Test Initial Results

2026 Legislative Session Wrap Up: Progress, Setbacks, and What’s Next

Safe Communities

From Incarceration to Impact: How Karl Hampton Found Freedom Through Opportunity

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

Empower MS Releases 2025 Impact Report

Bill Summaries

HB 1072 — Voluntary Portable Benefit Plan Act

Quality Education

Education Is Economic Development: Why Business Leaders Should Support House Bill

Quality Education

From a Mother’s Struggle to a Thriving Academy: The Story of Knox Academy

Bill Summaries

HB 1736, HB 1735, SB 2041: MDOC Dyslexia Study

Bill Summaries

SB 2512: Teaching the “Success Sequence” 

Quality Education

Midtown Public Charter: A Flagship of Hope and Possibility for Mississippi’s Future

Bill Summaries

SB 2035: MDOC Data Transparency and Improvement

Bill Summaries

SB 2792: Expungement for those who weren’t convicted

Bill Summaries

SB 2300: Special Purpose Schools

Bill Summaries

SB 2796 & 2797: Mississippi Violent Crime Task Force

Bill Summaries

SB 2771: Expanding Fresh Start

Bill Summaries

SB 2487: Expanding the Literacy Based Promotion Act

Quality Education

Under The Dome: House Passes the Education Freedom Act

Bill Summaries

HB 2: Mississippi Education Freedom Act

Quality Education

Under The Dome: Senate Education Committee Advances School Choice Bill

Introducing EPIC: A New Investment in Solution Development

Quality Education

The Hidden Gem: Why Education Freedom is the New Economic Development

Quality Education

If Lawmakers Are Trying to Defund Public Education, They Aren’t Very Good at It

Safe Communities

Accountability and Action: The Path to Safer Communities

Quality Education

The Silent Decline of Hillcrest Christian School: When Private Doesn’t Mean Privileged

Quality Education

How Much Does Private School Really Cost in Mississippi?

School Choice Improves Public School Performance

I am Grateful for Hurricane Katrina

Welcome Our New Director of Outreach

Meet Our New Director of Research

Quality Education

What the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Means for School Choice in Mississippi

Quality Education

WAITLIST FUNDED: Lawmakers Increase Funding for Special Needs ESA

Now Hiring: Director of Outreach

Quality Education

Lt. Gov. Hosemann Let Us Down

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

What Survived Deadline Day?

Quality Education

Bills Survive Second Committee Deadline

Quality Education

Key school choice bills die in Senate

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

2024 Impact Report: Celebrating 10 Years Of Service In Mississippi

Bills Survive Deadline Day

Bill Summaries

HB 1476: Work Release Program for State Prison in Greenwood

Bill Summaries

HB 1001: the MS Inmate Labor Accountability and Rehabilitation Act

Quality Education

Mississippi School Choice – The Latest

Bill Summaries

HB 1434: Specialized academic programs for Mississippi students

Quality Education

HB 1433: What You Need to Know

Quality Education

School Choice Bills Survive First Deadline

Bill Summaries

HB 1432: Expand opportunity for establishment of charter schools

Bill Summaries

HB 940: Restore voting rights of former non-violent offenders

Bill Summaries

SB 2631: Restore voting rights of former non-violent offenders

Bill Summaries

SB 2248: Expand The Fresh Start Act

Bill Summaries

SB 2536: Implement ‘Success Sequence’ in public school curriculum 

Bill Summaries

HB 857: Expand Literacy-Based Promotion Act to Grades 4–8

Bill Summaries

SB 2240: Require MDOC to report information to the public

Bill Summaries

SB 2233: Conduct study on prevalence of dyslexia among inmates

Bill Summaries

HB 1439: The Mississippi School Accountability Dashboard Act

Bill Summaries

SB 2290: Improve Mississippi’s labor force participation rate

Bill Summaries

HB 1617: The Tim Tebow Act

Bill Summaries

HB 1433: Expand educational options for Mississippi students

Bill Summaries

HB 1435: Make it easier for students to move between public schools

Bill Summaries

SB 2602: School District Reporting For Student Transfers

Bill Summaries

HB 1163: Allow students with dyslexia to receive an ESA

Bill Summaries

HB 1078: Remove Wait List Requirement For Special Needs ESA

Bill Summaries

HB 781: Authorize mobile barbershops

Bill Summaries

SB 2179: The Tim Tebow Act

Bill Summaries

HB 729: The Tim Tebow Act

Bill Summaries

HB 98: Full practice authority for nurse practitioners

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

Mississippi’s Momentum: Building on a Decade of Progress in 2025

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

Mississippi Leaders Unite for Bold Progress at the 2024 Empower Solutions Summit

Safe Communities

Grant Callen and Kayla Hulett Testify on Expungement and Rights Restoration

A family of four sitting together, two parents and two daughters
Safe Communities

Kayla Hulett: Finding Freedom After Addiction

Quality Education

Make it Make Sense

Quality Education

ABCs of School Choice: Point | Counterpoint

Meaningful Work

Labor Day: A Call to Strengthen Mississippi’s Workforce

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

Is America Exceptional?

Empower Mississippi Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Bill Summaries

SB 2689: Replace end of course tests with national testing options

Bill Summaries

HB 1609: Restore voting rights of former non-violent offenders

Bill Summaries

SB 2574: Expand the Fresh Start Act

Bill Summaries

HB 1303: Expand the Fresh Start Act

Bill Summaries

SB 2442: Establish the Prison-to-Paycheck Pipeline Pilot Program

Bill Summaries

HB 1683: Expand opportunity for establishment of charter schools

Bill Summaries

HB 1600: Post-Release Services Pilot Program

Bill Summaries

SB 2597: Require MDOC to develop data collection and reporting system

Bill Summaries

HB 1599: Require MDOC to develop data collection and reporting system

Bill Summaries

HB 1490: Full practice authority for nurse practitioners

Bill Summaries

HB 1248: The Tim Tebow Act

Bill Summaries

HB 524: The Tim Tebow Act

Bill Summaries

HB 1448: The Tim Tebow Act

Bill Summaries

SB 2562: The Tim Tebow Act

Bill Summaries

HB 1449: The Mississippi Student Freedom Act

Bill Summaries

HB 1455: Expand Mississippi’s prison work initiative

Bill Summaries

SB 2444: Expand Mississippi’s prison work initiative

Bill Summaries

SB 2291: Regulatory reduction pilot program

Bill Summaries

SB 2066: Freedom to Shampoo Hair

Bill Summaries

HB 924: Authorize mobile barbershops

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

Empower releases 2023 impact report

Bill Summaries

HB 872: Expand the Fresh Start Act

Bill Summaries

SB 2079: Full practice authority for nurse practitioners

Bill Summaries

HB 821: Full practice authority for nurse practitioners

Bill Summaries

SB 2234: Make it easier for students to move between public schools

Bill Summaries

HB 867: Make it easier for students to move between public schools

Now Hiring: Executive Assistant to the CEO & Development Manager

‘We Can Do Hard Things’

Agency: An Approach to Empower All Americans to Pursue Their Dreams

Safe Communities

A Path Forward: Taking the Next Steps in Criminal Justice

2023 Rise Awards

Meaningful Work

What’s Next? Capitalizing on Mississippi’s Pro-Growth Momentum

Quality Education

Investing In Opportunity: The Power of Education Savings Accounts

‘We Believe in the Innate Dignity of Every Person’

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

Record crowd attends Unleash Mississippi

Empower releases 2022 annual report

House passes full expensing bill

Meaningful Work

A Tax Cut with No Revenue Loss – and More Jobs

Legislature hits next major deadline

Quality EducationBill Summaries

HB 1173: Teacher supply cards for public charter school teachers

Bill Summaries

What’s Still Alive in the Legislature?

Meaningful WorkBill Summaries

SB 2160: Move Function of Cosmetology and Barber Boards to Health Department

Meaningful WorkBill Summaries

HB 1113: Home-based business freedom

Meaningful WorkBill Summaries

SB 2537: Expand cottage food operators sales cap

Quality EducationBill Summaries

HB 1150: Permit universities to authorize charter schools

Meaningful WorkBill Summaries

SB 2796: Full practice authority for nurse practitioners

Meaningful WorkBill Summaries

SB 2066: Free shampooers to work

Quality EducationBill Summaries

HB 748: The Tim Tebow Act

Meaningful WorkBill Summaries

HB 727/ HB 796: Full practice authority for nurse practitioners

Meaningful WorkSafe CommunitiesBill Summaries

SB 2342: Ban the Box for public employees

Meaningful WorkBill Summaries

HB 868: Authorize mobile barbershops 

Safe CommunitiesBill Summaries

HB 722: Decriminalize possession of fentanyl testing strips

Quality EducationBill Summaries

HB 668: New pathways to teacher licensure

Quality EducationBill Summaries

HB 27: Allow students with dyslexia to receive ESA

Meaningful WorkBill Summaries

SB 2052: Regulatory reduction pilot program

2022: A Year in Review

Safe Communities

Empower releases report on violent crime in Mississippi

How the Jackson water shortage happened and how it can be solved

The Supreme Court returned control to the citizens

Finding Meaning in Independence Day

The road from Canada to Clinton

Empower to host Unleash Mississippi with state leaders, national policy experts

Remembering Officer Langley

Honoring Fallen Officers

Mississippi mourns the loss of Wirt A. Yerger, Jr.

Elon to the rescue….

Ukrainian Courage

Community Stories

Meet the people behind the issues and see how policy and opportunity impact real lives across Mississippi.

Children carrying backpacks stepping up into a yellow school bus

More Than a Backpack

A woman standing outside the Mississippi Delta Nature and Learning Center

Amanda Delverdank is building something special in the Mississippi Delta

Safe Communities

From Incarceration to Impact: How Karl Hampton Found Freedom Through Opportunity

A man standing in front of a wall-sized map of Mississippi
Safe Communities

Kyle Jackson: A Father’s Footsteps

Students in matching red shirts standing together in a school library
Quality Education

Unlimited Dreams Gives Laurel Students Another Education Option, Hope

A family of four sitting together, two parents and two daughters
Safe Communities

Kayla Hulett: Finding Freedom After Addiction

A teacher leaning over a table of students at work in a classroom
Quality Education

Rocket Learning Launches New Education Option in Southwest Mississippi

A man speaking on a stage in front of a Living Free Ministries screen, with an audience watching
Safe Communities

Tyler Wilson’s Battle For Hope

A woman standing in the kitchen of her home
Safe Communities

Finding hope in the hopelessness of prison

A woman standing in front of a sign for her beauty business
Meaningful Work

State removes regulation. Entrepreneur follows her dreams.

A woman standing on the pavement outside a row of shops
Meaningful Work

Serving their local communities

A man standing outside a brick church building
Safe Communities

A new conviction

A man standing beside a sign for the Corinth Freedom Center
Safe Communities

“Second chances are crucial”

A man and a woman standing together outdoors among trees
Safe Communities

Offering hope to those who need it most

A man in an Ole Miss sweatshirt standing outdoors
Quality Education

“The system did not allow me to do my job”

A woman and a man crouching either side of a young boy at the water's edge
Quality Education

“As a parent, you want the best for your child”

A man sitting on a porch step holding a long-handled tool
Safe Communities

Overcoming addiction and providing second chances

A teacher pointing to a lesson on an interactive whiteboard
Quality Education

“There’s so much more to our students than just a test”

Children sitting on the floor of a classroom during a lesson
Quality Education

When the love and joy of learning is sucked out of the classroom

A woman in a red jacket and a yellow scarf
Quality Education

“Teaching was always what I loved to do”

A woman standing on the pavement outside a row of shops
Quality Education

“As teachers, we were teaching to the test”

A woman working at a laptop at home with a small dog beside her
Meaningful Work

Home-based business provides new career for entrepreneur

Children sitting on the floor of a classroom with their teacher
Quality Education

Ivy Green Academy: A learner-driven school

A man standing beside a wooden cross inside a church
Safe Communities

The business of grace

A woman sitting among the shelves of a school library
Quality Education

Delta Streets Academy: Changing lives. Shaping lives.

A woman sitting on a sofa at home
Quality Education

My kids are in public school. I support school choice.

A woman sitting on a bench in a park
Quality Education

Homeschooling Is My School Choice

A roadside sign reading Welcome to Pace
Quality Education

Finding The Right Pace For Her Son

A man and a woman sitting together on a sofa
Quality Education

“We Knew We Had To Do Something”

Research & Reports

Explore Mississippi-specific research, data, and policy solutions designed to turn ideas into action.

Report cover: The Tape Measure Problem, what Mississippians taught us about work and opportunity, August 2026, over a photograph of two construction workers in hard hats crouching to measure a building site
Meaningful Work

New Empower Mississippi Report Finds Mississippians Want to Work, but Many Remain Disconnected from Opportunity

Quality Education

How Much Does Private School Really Cost in Mississippi?

Meaningful Work

New Empower Mississippi Report Highlights Growth in Labor Force Participation Rate, Outlines Recommendations for Continued Improvement

Meaningful Work

Empower Mississippi Releases New Research to Help Determine Why More Mississippians Aren’t in the Workforce

Safe Communities

How bad is crime in Mississippi?

Meaningful Work

Empower Mississippi releases report on how occupational regulations limit job opportunities in Mississippi

Press Releases

Get the latest news, announcements, and updates from Empower Mississippi.

Report cover: The Tape Measure Problem, what Mississippians taught us about work and opportunity, August 2026, over a photograph of two construction workers in hard hats crouching to measure a building site
Meaningful Work

New Empower Mississippi Report Finds Mississippians Want to Work, but Many Remain Disconnected from Opportunity

Quality Education

WAITLIST FUNDED: Lawmakers Increase Funding for Special Needs ESA

Mississippi Legislature Passes Historic Legislation To Phase Out Mississippi’s Income Tax

Governor Proclaims ‘Mississippi School Choice Week’ as Annual Celebration of Education Expands Nationwide

Meaningful Work

New Empower Mississippi Report Highlights Growth in Labor Force Participation Rate, Outlines Recommendations for Continued Improvement

Meaningful Work

Empower Mississippi Releases New Research to Help Determine Why More Mississippians Aren’t in the Workforce

Quality Education

Mississippi Supreme Court Rules on High Profile Case

Empower Mississippi Praises Passage of New Education Funding Formula

Joanna Polk joins the team

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves Proclaims April “Second Chance Month”

Empower Mississippi Announces New Chairman of the Board

Governor Proclaims “School Choice Week” as Annual Education Celebration Spreads Across the Nation

Quality EducationMeaningful WorkSafe Communities

Record crowd attends Unleash Mississippi

Patrick Miller named Vice President of Development

Wil Ervin named Senior Vice President of Empower Mississippi

Senate Education Committee kills nomination of Carra Powell

New Poll Shows GOP Voter Views on Crime Solutions

House passes full expensing bill

Meaningful Work

New Report Answers Concerns About Nurse Practitioners

Safe Communities

Empower releases report on violent crime in Mississippi

Quality Education

Empower reacts to charter board approving only one new charter

Empower to host Unleash Mississippi with state leaders, national policy experts

Thigpen named Senior Advisor at Empower

Meaningful Work

Reeves signs historic tax reform

Meaningful Work

House and Senate Leaders Reach Historic Tax Cut Deal

Meaningful Work

Gov. Reeves enters the field with bold plan to eliminate income tax

House and Senate keep income tax relief alive

Meaningful Work

Senate adopts their own tax relief proposal

Meaningful Work

House adopts legislation to protect home-based businesses

Meaningful Work

Leading Conservative and Business Organizations Call for Income Tax Elimination

Quality Education

Mississippi School Bus Tour to Celebrate School Choice Week

Meaningful Work

House advances income tax repeal

Meaningful Work

Empower Mississippi releases report on how occupational regulations limit job opportunities in Mississippi

Quality Education

Empower Mississippi launches Embark

The dome of the Mississippi State Capitol at first light

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