The Empowerment Plan-via Napa Interior Design

I am awed and inspired by so many young people who are stepping up to the plate and using their incredible talents to serve our world. Recently I wrote the story of  Wesam Azar, the designer of the The Coexistence Change Centre. And now here’s the story of how a 21-year-old design student’s sleeping-bag coat could break the cycle of homelessness.

image via the Empowerment Plan.org

And, I first heard about this amazing project on Daily Good: News that Inspires…gotta love that! The Empowerment plan aims to break that cycle. By giving homeless women jobs while in the shelter so they can earn money, find a place to live, and gain back their independence for themselves and their family.

Meet Veronika Scott, the 22 year old Michigan based product design student who started a school project with a determination to get a good grade and who has since turned her idea into a business that could help and empower the homeless and natural disaster victims.

image courtesy of Metromedia blog

Her simple idea quickly morphed into The Empowerment Plan, a humanitarian project based in the city of Detroit. The plan centers around a coat that is self-heated, waterproof, and transforms into a sleeping bag at night. The coat is made by a group of homeless women

image courtesy of UIX Detroit

who have been paid to learn and to produce the coats for those living on the streets. The focus is on the system to create jobs for those that desire them and coats for those that need them at no cost. The importance is not with the product but with the people.

image via Play Ground Detroit

The goals of the Empowerment Plan are:

• to employ homeless females within the city of Detroit
• to give coats or the MPWR coat to individuals living on the streets
• to establish trust and communication with individuals deemed by the shelters as unreachable in the homeless community for example the mentally impaired
• to teach sewing manufacturing/ production skills to people that need jobs
• to offer a sense of pride to the women who have been employed in the production of the coats.

Image courtesy of Outside Online Blog

 What do you think of this idea? Does it inspire you? If you know of another uplifting and inspirational story, please let me know. I’m all about sharing positive Little Bits of Beauty™ both local and global.