Deborah S. Greenhut Writer

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Doing good. The need keeps growing, and art keeps inventing solutions.

Veronika Scott was a design student at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit when her teacher, Stephen Schock, challenged her class to create a product that filled a need, rather than satisfying or creating a fad. Veronika's design was a coat for homeless people that could transform into a sleeping bag, since in her city, she says, "you are constantly faced with the homeless epidemic." Not only did her design win an International Design Excellence Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America, it became the catalyst for something far more transformative than she could have imagined -- this winter, the non-profit organization she founded will distribute its 100,000th convertible coat!

Veronika originally designed the coats seeking input from people at a homeless shelter. After receiving feedback from people who used the prototype over a frigid Detroit winter, she refined the design to create her final version which, in addition to being waterproof and windproof, transforms from a coat into a sleeping bag at night and converts into an over-the-shoulder bag with storage in the arm sockets when not in use. At right, Takecia, one of the seamstresses, shows how it looks when converted into a sleeping bag.

While the EMPWR Coat design has earned many accolades, one of Veronika's major breakthroughs came from an encounter with a homeless woman who told her that she didn't need a coat but a job. As a result, since its founding in 2012, Veronika's organization has hired over 150 people, predominantly women, from homeless shelters to make the coats. Over the years, her non-profit group, the Empowerment Plan, has developed an innovative employment model that is deliberately transitional; most employees spend two years working there before moving on to another job.

Roughly 60% of the workers' 40-hour-work week is dedicated to coat production, while the remaining 40% is dedicated to on-site programming such as tutoring to obtain a GED, driver's education, domestic violence support, financial literacy, or other supports to address whatever challenges a particular individual is facing. The results speak for themselves: 100% of their former employees have stable housing a year after leaving the organization.

Veronika's motivation for this work comes out of her own experience. Born to parents who struggled with addiction, she often didn't have stable housing as a child and understands what it's like to be judged for being poor. She confronted such low expectations about her workers when she first started the Empowerment Plan.

“Everybody told me that my business was going to fail -- not because of who I was giving my product to but because of who I was hiring," Veronika reflects, "They said that these homeless women will never make more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich -- you cannot rely on them for anything. And I know my ladies enjoy proving everybody wrong."

Since that time, her group has distributed nearly 100,000 coats across all 50 states and 22 countries -- including packing and shipping a record 1,804 coats in a single day to their partners in California last week. Each coat costs $150 to sponsor and is distributed free of charge to those in need through partnerships with outreach organizations nationwide. Yet demand far exceeds supply: nearly 2,000 people are on the waitlist in need of a sponsor for the convertible coat.

"It's been a really challenging year for our organization," observes Erika George, the group's chief development officer. "We've seen increased demand (for coats), and individuals we are hiring are coming in with way more barriers." This increased demand is a reflection of the fact that in 2024, the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night was 771,480, the highest ever recorded. With food prices and housing costs continuing to rise this year, more people than ever are struggling.

This growing crisis only underscores the importance of their work. As they prepare to distribute their 100,000th coat this winter, Veronika and her "ladies" continue proving their detractors wrong. Veronika, who was named one of "40 Under 40: Young Leaders Who Are Solving the Problems of Today" by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, continues to demonstrate that local manufacturing -- and training local workers -- is not only possible but essential.

"I think we're going to show a lot of people: you think it's outdated to do manufacturing in your neighborhood, but I think it's something that we have to do in the future," Veronika asserts, "where it's sustainable, where you invest in people, where they're not interchangeable parts."

To learn how you can sponsor a coat for someone in need or help support their work, visit the Empowerment Plan's website at http://www.empowermentplan.org/

For a heartwarming book that addresses an issue kids rarely hear about -- hunger in their local community and how they can help -- we highly recommend “Maddi’s Fridge” for ages 4 to 8 at https://www.amightygirl.com/maddi-s-fridge

For more books for children and teens about people helping others in their communities experiencing hardship, visit our blog post "Cultivating Compassion: 25 Books About Financial Hardship Close to Home" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=10049

For empathy-building book for young kids about the importance of compassion and being kind to others, visit our blog post "25 Children's Books That Teach Kids to Be Kind," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=19359

For an excellent book about female inventors throughout history who have made an impact, we recommend “Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women” for readers 8 to 13 at https://www.amightygirl.com/girls-think-of-everything

For two inspiring picture books about Mighty Girl inventors - all for ages 4 to 8 - check out “The Most Magnificent Thing” (https://www.amightygirl.com/the-most-magnificent-thing) and “Rosie Revere, Engineer” (https://www.amightygirl.com/rosie-revere-engineer)

For a wonderful way to make donating to charity a regular part of your child’s life, we recommend a divided piggy bank that includes a separate chamber for charitable donations such as the Moonjar Moneybox at https://www.amightygirl.com/moonjar-classic

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From our archives💜

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Warm enough to walk today. So happy to see so many of these around!

Chalk/Click/Zoom #3 In My Life [1]