Communities across the country are struggling to create jobs and reduce homelessness. In Detroit, a nonprofit called Empowerment Plan has found a way to address both problems. The organization helps people in need with a unique, multipurpose garment, employment and a path toward continuing education. Special correspondent Mary Ellen Geist reports.
This Detroit nonprofit provides jobs, clothing and shelter all at once
Economy
Jul 22, 2019 06:20 PM EDT
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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
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Amna Nawaz:
Across the country, communities struggle to create jobs and end homelessness.
One Detroit nonprofit has found a unique solution to help address both challenges.
Special correspondent Mary Ellen Geist has the story.
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Mary Ellen Geist:
Casandra Grimes has been homeless for a year. But she has started to stitch her life back together.
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Casandra Grimes:
I try to just make my life better than it was before.
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Mary Ellen Geist:
Grimes discovered a unique opportunity, working at the Empowerment Plan, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending homelessness through employment.
The organization was founded by Veronika Scott.
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Veronika Scott:
Both of my parents struggled with employment and addiction and poverty, and so it is creating an opportunity I wish had been given to my own family.
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Mary Ellen Geist:
While conducting research to design a coat for homeless people, Scott was confronted by a woman who told her that she didn't need a coat; she needed a job.
That led Scott to launch the Empowerment Plan, which offers both employment and a unique product for people in need, a durable garment that can be transformed from a shoulder bag, to a coat, to a sleeping bag, and back to a shoulder bag.
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Veronika Scott:
The coat on its own is a Band-Aid for a systemic issue, and what really has the impact is hiring the people that would need it in the first place.
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Mary Ellen Geist:
Casandra Grimes admits the job has its challenges.
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Casandra Grimes:
You got to focus when you thread, because I kept on breaking the needle when I first started. But I manage it now.
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Mary Ellen Geist:
Managing the work-life balance is a part of employment at the Empowerment Plan. Employees spend 60 percent of their paid time working and 40 percent improving their education and life skills.
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Veronika Scott:
Empowerment Plan started off as an education for me, and it really has evolved into creating that same opportunity for education for everybody.
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Mary Ellen Geist:
Grimes is studying for her GED, and plans to attend college and pursue a career as a seamstress.
Employees work at the Empowerment Plan for two years, then transition out into the workforce. Grimes has a year left, and the organization is helping her find an apartment of her own.
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Casandra Grimes:
I really do feel empowered when I am here, because I can get a good job in the future knowing I have got my education. I love what I do. They helped me get back on my feet too.
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Mary Ellen Geist:
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Mary Ellen Geist in Detroit, Michigan.
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