”Creating Economic and Political Empowerment for Missouri’s African American population”

Welcome to our site!

Thank you for visiting this website. The Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri was created to provide Missouri’s Black population with an organization to address political, social, judicial and racial inequities in the state of Missouri. The core of the ELC are African American clergy leaders from different areas of the state, representing a diversity of denominations and faiths. In addition to clergy leaders, the ELC accepts into its membership labor unions, business leaders, and even elected officials. The goal is to impact elections, motivate Black voters, and create a path for African Americans to have equal access to economic opportunities in Missouri.

As an organization with chapters in Missouri’s major cities, the Ecumenical Leadership Council has over 400 hundred African American member churches and mosques attended by tens of thousands of church members (most likely voters) throughout the state of Missouri.

Our Mission

The Mission of the Ecumenical Leadership of Missouri is to encourage, persuade, and motivate Missouri’s elected officials to include the state’s African American citizens in the allocation and distribution of public resources. In other words, the ELC ‘s focus is on using the leverage of a multitude of African American churches, and the voting strength of their collective congregations, to leverage influence with elected officials and political candidates to address, challenge, and if appropriate, reform legislation and policies that will impact the welfare of the state’s Black population. Unlike a typical church’s 501 C 3 organization, the ELC is a 501 C 4 organization, which makes it fully authorized to endorse political candidates, oppose political candidates, and involve itself in political engagement.

Our Strategy

The Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri is committed to creating a politically empowered coalition of African American clergy leaders, professionals, influential individuals, and elected officials to address the disparities and lack of access to business, job, and financial opportunities in Missouri. We recognize that 26% of Black families in St. Louis live below the federal guidelines for poverty. And in Kansas City the poverty rate for Black is over 30%. It gets worse when one considers that although Black men are barely 6% of the state’s population, they represent 46% of the prison population. Public school districts struggle to educate Black children due to funds being redirected towards charter and private institutions. All relevant studies reveal that Black families do not have adequate access to healthcare, are challenged by food deserts, and historically have paid more for housing due to discrimination and racial profiling.