How Empowerment Plan Employs People While Saving Lives One Coat At A Time
What began as a college design project in a small utility closet has grown into a global nonprofit tackling homelessness one coat at a time.
Canva
What began as a college design project in a small utility closet has grown into a global nonprofit tackling homelessness one coat at a time.
For the past 13 years, Detroit-based Empowerment Plan has been manufacturing specially designed winter coats that transform into sleeping bags, offering warmth, safety, and hope to people experiencing homelessness while also creating meaningful employment opportunities.
Founded by Veronika Scott, Empowerment Plan started as a class assignment focused on solving real-world problems through design. Scott's concept, a coat that could double as a sleeping bag for people living outdoors, quickly revealed a deeper opportunity: not only to provide a life-saving product, but to empower people through stable employment and development.
Today, the nonprofit operates as a full-scale manufacturing and social enterprise with a 30-person staff, all of whom were previously in need themselves. Employees are hired for two-year transitional roles, working and learning in various positions such as sewing, packaging, loading, and distributing coats. What sets the Empowerment Plan apart is its approach: workers are paid not only for their labor, but also for the time they spend accessing supportive services.
It's Bigger Than Just Detroit
The impact of the work stretches far beyond Detroit. Empowerment Plan coats are distributed locally and across the globe, reaching people facing extreme weather and housing insecurity worldwide. As the homelessness crisis deepens, approaching 800,000 people nationwide, according to Scott. The need has never been greater.
The organization is approaching a major milestone, expecting to complete its 100,000th coat around the New Year. Yet even with that achievement, challenges remain. Empowerment Plan currently faces a waitlist of more than 4,000 coats, along with a growing line of individuals seeking a chance to join the employment program.
From a college project to an international operation for good, Empowerment Plan stands as a powerful example of how Detroit ingenuity can warm bodies and hearts, restore dignity, and rebuild lives - one coat at a time.
