The chance that a child born today will earn more than their parents by adulthood is less than 50%.
Upward Momentum seeks to change this by creating opportunity across communities and through generations. Our goal is to increase economic mobility for all people deeply affected by systemic barriers to opportunity in measurable ways.
What is economic mobility?
Barriers to achieving economic mobility have been entrenched for decades and are growing in the Midwest, especially in Missouri. Philanthropic capital with a willingness to take strategic risks, form partnerships across organizations and communities, and make long-term investments, can enable initiatives that focus on fundamental change over generations.
Our Approach
Collaboration drives transformation. This core belief is what shapes our structure in which everyone – staff, founding partners, core partners, and community advisory panels – learn from each other. We work together to shape a powerful approach to systems change that will help everyone.
Each strategy and solution we explore will be shaped by three dimensions of action to build momentum for generational mobility.
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When to Act
Identify the moments in a life’s course that matter
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What to Do
Find what actions work to break through the systemic barriers in those moments
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How to Achieve it
Discover and apply the levers and methods available to achieve scalable impact
OUR WORK
We are starting in Missouri not only because it’s our home, but because Missouri represents the diversity of our country like no other state. We aim to find and share successful solutions here that could be scalable and replicated in other states. Missouri spans from urban innovation districts to rural communities where traditions run deep. It is a unique place where East and West, and North and South meet.
Upward Momentum focuses on three pillars of investment for economic mobility.
- Caring for Our Families: Re-center and re-imagine what it means to “care” for families and their economic well-being.
- Navigating Work: Navigational and wrap-around supports that improve the odds of people successfully accessing and interacting with key systems in the labor market.
- Strengthening Community: Equipping communities with the conditions, coordination, and capacity needed to support long-term economic mobility.
- Bridging Divides: Support and encourage organizations and leaders to understand and meet the needs of both rural and urban populations, tackling common issues at scale.
See our grantees and projects below.
Kids Win Missouri
Kids Win Missouri is a coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to improving the well-being of Missouri children. We are helping to extend critical work being done in Kansas City, St. Louis, and other communities to counties throughout the state to help get more childcare seats so parents can go to work and kids can have a safe environment in which to learn and grow.
Missouri Women’s Business Center
The Missouri Women’s Business Center, a program of Central Missouri Community Action, provides small business development assistance for entrepreneurs in Mid-Missouri. We are helping to expand its microlending project for small entrepreneurs and help people in struggling places get businesses off the ground and start creating good jobs in their communities.
Bridging Divides Open Call
Upward Momentum conducts an open call for strong proposals that can advance economic mobility across the state of Missouri. The open call process involves close collaboration with Missourians to ensure each application receives fair and consistent review. The applications were assessed across five areas, including track record of impact, focus on proven concepts, potential for scaling, community engagement and dialogue, and a commitment to collaboration. In 2025, 10 grantees were selected and received $200,000 each as part of a $2 million investment in the inaugural cohort. In 2026, 5 additional grantees will be selected to receive $200,000 each and join the cohort.
Center on Rural Innovation
The Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) partners with rural leaders across the country to build tech economies that support scalable entrepreneurship and lead to more tech jobs in rural America.
Partners for Rural Impact
Partners for Rural Impact supports rural places in launching place-based partnerships that center community assets, build sustained capacity, and expand access to opportunity.About Us
Upward Momentum is a philanthropic fund and collaborative for philanthropists and community members who are investing in bold, transformative interventions and partnerships that aim to address systemic inequities and improve opportunity for greater economic mobility for all.
Who is involved
Let’s Work Together
We welcome conversations with organizations working to advance economic mobility in Missouri. If your work aligns with our focus and you’re interested in learning more about our grantmaking process, please contact us at grants@upwardmo.org.
Stay tuned for more updates.
Upward Momentum convenes cohorts of community organizations advancing economic mobility across Missouri through our Bridging Divides initiative.
This effort brings together leaders working across rural and urban communities in Missouri to drive catalytic change and lasting impact for individuals and families throughout the state. These grantees represent a wide range of communities and approaches, united by a commitment to bridging rural and urban divides and building solutions to improve economic mobility that work across diverse settings.
To learn more about our selection process, eligibility criteria, and current application status, please visit: 2026 Open Call