Empowerment Plan

The Empowerment Plan is an American humanitarian organization. The organization works to address homelessness by providing jobs to homeless women, and by manufacturing a coat that is given to homeless individuals in need. Detroit, Michigan.

Background

The Empowerment Plan was established as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation in 2011, by Veronika Scott, who was a student at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Beginning as a school project, Scott initially designed the innovative sleeping bag coat to address the one in 42 Detroit residents that are homeless. This is particularly difficult in a city that experiences below freezing temperatures throughout the winter months. Scott's Detroit Empowerment project has the dual purpose of making warm, durable coats for the homeless population, while also helping to train and employ them. With support from the community and certain key organizations, Scott turned her school project into a fully viable nonprofit business model. More than ten homeless women have been trained and employed in the production of the coat.[1]

Formerly homeless women are recruited through local shelters and placed in housing through local nonprofit partners. Over 2,000 coats have been made and donated locally, nationally, and via international disaster aid relief. The goal is to grow and evolve the company over time, with the support of the Detroit community, shelters, foundations, and local brands with a 'care-and-share' mission.

Where else in the world, but Detroit? It's the Wild West of Creativity. If our job that we want isn't here, and isn't being offered, we make it here for ourselves. We can really drastically change our environment and the community around us, and here in Detroit, we're doing that all the time.[2]

Veronika Scott, via TEDx Detroit

Support

The Empowerment Plan receives support from numerous Detroit based companies, including Carhartt, The Women's Foundation, ACME Mills, along with innovative insulation materials donated by GM. The production studio is located in Corktown Detroit at the cooperative business spaced named Ponyride. According to Scott, during the creation of the project, she was told over and over that her idea would never succeed. Not because the person running it had no business experience, but because the homeless women she hired would not be "capable". Says Scott, "Everyday I enjoy proving that the homeless women I hire are powerful and driven. I am so privileged to be a part of their lives."[3]

Recognition

In 2010, Veronika Scott was invited to the UN to speak as a young woman change-maker, and in 2011 by the Clinton Global Initiative, part of the Clinton Foundation, to speak on her drive to create The Empowerment Plan. In 2012, Veronika Scott was awarded the JFK New Frontiers Award[4] from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. She is the youngest person to ever have received the honor. Also in 2012, Scott spoke via the Tedx Traverse City forum as well as Tedx Detroit.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Conlin, Jennifer (2012-02-29). "Altering Clothes, and Lives, With Design". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Tedxdetroit: Speaker Veronika Scott On The Empowerment Plan". Playground Detroit. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  3. ↑ Turner, Jody (2011-08-03). "How A 21-Year-Old Design Student's Sleeping-Bag Coat Could Break The Cycle Of Homelessness". Fast Company. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  4. ↑ "Veronika Scott, Stacey Abrams Win JFK New Frontier Awards". Huffingtonpost.com. 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2013-03-22.

External links