Empowered to Change, Inc.

Empowered to Change, Inc. Empowering the broken to heal, the voiceless to speak and communities to come together. We do this through customized programs with safe housing.

08/31/2026

Michele tackles an uncomfortable but necessary conversation: how do we actually end the demand behind s*x trafficking?

"We have some amazing partners, but then we have some who say, 'we don't have human trafficking in our neighborhood.' What I've learned is we have the internet, we have the dark web, and the ability to put something on a social media platform opens the door for exploitation. We have to have these conversations. We have to end the demand. The United States is the number one source for the demand for s*x trafficking around the world. Your average businessman, businesswoman, churchgoer, baseball coach, football coach, across the board, men and women. That's what we've learned. That's what the statistics say. And yet we're not coming together and asking, how do we fix this demand?

What does that mean? It means we take the person who tried to purchase s*x with a minor, and instead of casting them away, throwing stones, we have to delve in and ask, what happened to you? What's going on? That's the uncomfortable conversation. Many people don't want to discuss it. We've been criticized for discussing it, and for how we approach change.

We want to enter into these hard conversations, bring communities together for positive change, for health, wellness, sobriety, less crime, less recidivism. And it takes all of us to do it."

— Michele Snyder, Founder & CEO, Empowered to Change

08/28/2026

Katie Roberts, our Executive Assistant, doesn't hold back about what she's seen and why the church has to do more than write checks.

"We don't just hand out fish. We teach people how to fish. That's what Jesus did. The government's not going to solve these problems. The church can. The church can disciple people. The church doesn't have to just hand people money. People who live the street life know exactly where to go to get things enabled, because they don't know any differently. They've never been held accountable for anything in their life. It truly breaks my heart. I don't think you guys realize the extent of the darkness right here in your own community. I don't think you realize it. If you do and you're just ignoring it, I don't know how, because it breaks my heart.

Some of the most horrific things I've heard from people: being sold as a child, being abused by a family member, all while going to church every Sunday, every Wednesday night, coming home from school and peeking through the window to see if that person is there, living in fear, not even wanting to go to school. Another one, having to raise yourself from the time you're six years old. Horrible, horrible things. And the church could be the lifesaver. The church is supposed to be the lifesaver. We are the church, and we're supposed to heal. We have the Holy Spirit living within us. Jesus didn't ascend into heaven and say, 'be comfortable, sit on your pew on Sunday.' That's not how being a Christian works. It's taking up your cross every single day and counting the cost. Let it be costly.

I heard a sermon once about counting the cost, about David. A man offered him land for free so he could make a sacrifice, and David said, 'no, I'm not going to take it for free. It's not a sacrifice if it costs me nothing.' Guys, it's going to be costly. This life isn't meant to be easy. And hurt people hurt people."

— Katie Roberts, Executive Assistant, Empowered to Change

08/27/2026

There's a side of Empowered to Change most people never see. Michele opens up about it.

"This is part of Empowered to Change that people don't see. For 12 years, we've made sure people have the necessities, combs, toothbrushes, basic supplies. Each house has what it needs. When people come off the street or out of jail, many times they don't have an ID, they don't have a Social Security card, they don't even have a toothbrush. So Empowered to Change gets them set up for success. They can't just go straight into getting a job, they have to get an ID, a Social Security card, they need food to eat. This is the part we get a lot of joy in, because we're being good Samaritans and fulfilling the commission. Sometimes you have to start by feeding them and clothing them. I always think of that part in the Bible where someone is cold and hungry, and instead of helping, someone just says, 'I'll pray for you,' and they walk away still cold and hungry. This is the part we've been doing for 12 years.

Yes, the state of Florida has helped us greatly since Covid, and we're so thankful for that. But now we need another plan. Empowered to Change grew 800% on the model of pouring into people, investing in them, teaching them to fish, and then they pay it forward through a program fee. But times have changed, housing has gone up, minimum wage has gone up, and we need help. We need the Kingdom of God to be the Kingdom of God, and we need the church to say, 'We believe in what you're doing, and we want to help you.'

What you can't see under all of this: we buy everyone Straight Talk cell phones, because you can't get a job or communicate without one. I would love it if Walmart or Straight Talk wanted to sponsor us on that one. There are so many layers here. I'm just opening up a day in the life of Empowered to Change International, and nothing worth anything is easy, and we're okay with that. Who wants to join us?"

— Michele Snyder, Founder & CEO, Empowered to Change

08/26/2026

Tofoya shares something only someone who's walked this path could say.

"I'm a former inmate myself. When I came out of prison, I didn't know anything about programs like this. So I'll have rapport that will help these ladies, when I go into the prison and speak with them, I let them know I know where they're coming from. I know what it's like to come out. It's amazing to see women come out with the support of Empowered to Change, having their basic needs covered and reducing their chances of returning to prison."

— Tafoya, Empowered to Change, Operation Rebuild

08/25/2026

We're always going to be fair. We're always going to speak to you in love, but it's still the truth. And we're always going to do whatever we can to help you grow and benefit. We're looking for how the organization can help you become and be better, no matter what the situation is. We all work together to help people understand the importance of taking little baby steps so they can become whole. We show people what it actually means to change, to not have to live the same way. Change takes work, there might be some pressure in it. But what can happen down the line is bigger than just the individual. It's for the generations down the line, and the community down the line, if we just invest now.

— Derrick Miller, Empowered to Change

08/24/2026

Coral Sheppard, challenges a response she hears far too often about people coming out of incarceration or addiction.

"When I talk about a woman or a man who's formerly incarcerated, or someone who has struggled with substance abuse and is sitting in the county jail wanting an opportunity to get help and resources, I often hear, 'well, they made their choice.' It's such a naive, unrelatable response, because whoever says that hasn't been affected. They haven't had a loved one, a family member, someone in their own community walk through it.

These people coming out of prison, coming out of jail, they're somebody's mother. Somebody's son. Somebody's daughter. They have a story. If we can look past a charge and see who they are, and I'm not saying charges aren't real, or that there shouldn't be consequences for the damage we do in our community, there should be, but what about when they get out? There's somebody who needs someone to believe in them, to have hope for them, to believe their old life isn't their new way of life.

They've been rejected, abandoned, turned away. And if our community keeps doing that, we'll stay stuck in this narrative, 'that's what they get, that's where they belong.' That's the challenge we face: we have to change how they're received, how the story is written about who they can become, and how they can contribute to who we are as a community and as a people."

— Coral Sheppard, Founder & Vice President, Empowered to Change

08/21/2026

Michele asks a question that's been sitting heavy on her heart: what happens when the buildings meant to serve God's people sit empty most of the week?

"I know the church I grew up in. I know the church we were attending when Empowered to Change formed. And I know that Monday through Saturday, that building is huge, there's empty rooms, empty kitchens, empty space. It's mainly used on Sunday mornings, maybe a Wednesday, maybe choir practice here or a Bible study there. But the majority of that space, and I'm just speaking in the natural, we have buildings like this all over Tampa Bay, and the space is empty.

How can Empowered to Change bridge the gap between what's being taught at the pulpit about salvation, about discipleship, about ministry, and the fact that the building is closed five days a week? Thousands of square feet, empty. While there's a dying world right across the street, people shooting up fentanyl, s*xual abuse, in**st, every manner of perversion happening in Florida, in fact, right across the street from pulpits giving amazing sermons.

How can we bridge that gap? How can we help you? I can tell you how you can help us."

— Michele Snyder, Founder & CEO, Empowered to Change

08/20/2026

Lorrie Donat, our Chief of Staff, has a word for anyone who's been carrying something they don't know how to say out loud.

"For the person who has something to say, but doesn't know where to begin, let us show you where to start."

Together we are on a mission to empower. Will you partner with us?

— Lorrie Donat, Chief of Staff, Empowered to Change

08/19/2026

Michele opens up about denominational division, and how Empowered to Change grew 800% before ever receiving a grant.

"I didn't know I could speak in tongues until I was 45 years old, baptized in the Holy Spirit. What I believe, every time I'm praying and asking God what He wants us to do, the commission is very clear. He keeps showing me this vision that His body, His bride, is divided by the signs outside the church. You've got Methodists and their ways, Baptists and their ways, general Christian, Lutheran, all these different Protestant denominations.

But if you look, and they all believe they're blood-bought by Jesus Christ only?

I have to tell you, I feel like the adversary has really pitched us lies through all these divisions, and it keeps us distracted. It keeps us in cliques. It keeps us in our own little religious social clubs, and we collect money, and this money is for us, for our denomination, and no more. I grew up with that, you tithe here, you tithe there, I was even a bookkeeper at a Baptist church. I get it.

But God called us out at Empowered to Change. There are so many broken people, so many of the least of these. For the first six years, we didn't even get grants or money. We grew 800% by empowering the broken people we were serving, clothing, feeding, and sharing the gospel with. They paid a program fee, we call it 'pay it forward.' We grew 800% by that business plan alone, to the grace and glory of God."

— Michele Snyder, Founder & CEO, Empowered to Change

08/18/2026

Christopher Kozlowski shares a message of hope for anyone who feels like they're too far gone.

"To those who have been broken, there is hope. You are not beyond repair."

Together we are on a mission to empower. Will you partner with us?

empoweredtochangeint.org

— Christopher Kozlowski, Empowered to Change

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