A company in Detroit has decided to hire homeless residents to make special coats to be given to homeless residents to help them survive and stay safe, according to CNN.
The company, Empowerment Plan, is looking to help the thousands of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Detroit.
The company’s founder Veronika Scott, told CNN she wanted to create a product to benefit homeless people because she and her family had experienced homelessness when she was a child. As a product design student at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Scott came up with an idea for a coat that doubles as a backpack and sleeping bag.
The coats have been given to homeless people to help them when they’re outside. But when Scott showed prototypes of the coats to homeless people at a shelter, they were angry.
“I don’t need a coat! I need a job,” one of the women in the shelter yelled, Scott told CNN.
Instead of being hurt by the criticism, Scott took the feedback and went to work to help the homeless community in another way. Eight years later, Empowerment Plan has hired over 80 people who started out as homeless. And, according to CNN, none of those employees have been homeless again even after leaving the company.
Read more: This coat design isn’t just saving lives. It’s launching new careers for homeless people (CNN)