The Empowerment Plan. Keeping people warm in a cold world.

Please read, visit the blogs I quoted and help Veronika save the world or at least make it a little warmer.



There are 32,000 people in Detroit that are homeless.

This is my story about a humanitarian project called The Empowerment Plan. Meet the re-designed coat, Element S. It is self heated, waterproof, and transforms into a sleeping bag at night. Made by a group of homeless women who will be paid minimum wage, fed and housed to create these 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 goal is to empower, employ, educate, and instil pride. The importance is not with the product but with the people.
http://detroitempowermentplan.blogspot.com/
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I first heard of Veronika on Morning Edition. A junior studying at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, she’s designed a self heating waterproof coat for homeless people that converts to a sleeping bag at night. Although she’s garnered the support of apparel producers like Carhartt (they donated materials and machines to start) she’s poor herself and could use a hand if you’re inclined to help out.

She started the project from her room (cute picture) with -she says- a “vague idea of how to sew” (even with help from her mom); the first prototype took 20 hours (that’s not bad Veronika). Making coats to survive the elements is but one small facet of her plan. She’s also using the project as a training program to impart job skills.

Veronika did quite a bit of research and has some horrible stories about it. Apparently some people drive by shelters in Hummers and and Escalades hoping to incite human cock fights by strategically throwing dollar bills out of the windows. Since when did poverty, hopelessness and misery become cheap entertainment? Is there no sense of common decency? One out of every 47 people in Detroit is homeless. 25% of them are children. The majority are mentally ill having fallen through rents in what passes for a safety net. Oh I’ll get off my soapbox… my brother is ill and usually homeless. We rarely know where he is and it’s hard to help when we do. Paranoia and all; a tragedy many know well.

Veronika’s plan is to make the coat project available across the country. Stop by her Facebook page to keep abreast of developments.
http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/the-elements-survival-coat/