Veronika Scott, who founded the non-profit The Empowerment Plan, which makes coats that convert into sleeping bags made for and by Detroit’s homeless women, is being given the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award Monday evening (Nov. 19, 2012).
Two years ago, when Scott was a student at the College for Creative Studies, she began working on a class assignment that asked students to design something that would help fill a need. Scott designed a winter coat that doubled as a sleeping bag, aimed at helping Detroit’s homeless population to stay warm during the area’s frigid winters.
Her tireless research into the need of the local homeless population and refinement of her own product prototypes has since turned a simple class assignment into The Empowerment Plan, now a growing non-profit enterprise helps to employ the people it serves.
Scott has converted an abandoned warehouse into a production facility, and has garnered donated materials from companies such as General Motors and Carhartt. One of her employees was able to use the work to rise up from a homeless shelter and find her own apartment. The hope is that others will also able to do so soon.
The John F. Kennedy New Frontier Awards were created by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and Harvard University’s Institute of Politics to honor Americans under 40 years of age who are making an impact in their local communities through public service. “Veronika Scott turned a class project into an engine of opportunity and hope for the citizens of Detroit. They both are inspiring examples of my father’s belief that every person can make a difference,” Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and Chair of the Senior Advisory Committee for Harvard’s Institute of Politics, and daughter of the late president, said in a release.
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