“We want people to leave with confidence and the ability to navigate the challenges ahead.”
–Veronika Scott, Founder and CEO, Empowerment Plan
Detroit, MI (October 2026) -The bus ride to work can take an hour. Before it begins, there are children to feed, dress and get out the door. At the other end is a new job and the pressure to make it work. All of this may be happening without a stable place to live or someone to call when plans fall apart.
For many Empowerment Plan Fellows, getting to work is an accomplishment in itself.
Empowerment Plan is built around that reality. Its two-year paid fellowship employs people facing housing instability and barriers to employment to make coats that convert into sleeping bags for people in need. Their paid workweek also includes literacy coaching, GED tutoring, financial education and career preparation.
Such support can make the difference between keeping a job and losing ground. Still, the team noticed some fellows were leaving within the first week or two, before the program had time to help.
Some needed mental health support. Others were struggling to meet the demands of a job while managing the uncertainty of daily life. They needed work, but they also needed more help to make it possible.
The team wanted to reach people sooner.
In response, Empowerment Plan is piloting a pre-fellowship program that places more support at the beginning of the two-year pathway. Participants are hired and paid while completing assessments, taking classes and addressing challenges such as debt, transportation and literacy. They also learn ways to manage difficult emotions and navigate a workplace. Those who qualify move into the remainder of the fellowship, learning coat production and continuing their education and personal development.
A two-year grant from the Walters Family Foundation supports programming and the staff who work with fellows. Veronika Scott, Empowerment Plan’s founder and CEO, said the foundation’s willingness to support new ideas helped the team move forward with the pilot.
“They’re curious about what we’re doing, and they’re excited about the things that we want to try,” she said.
As the first group neared the end of the pilot, formal results were still ahead. But staff were already seeing a change in a fellow they had worried might leave.
When stress rose on the production floor, she began putting her classroom lessons into practice.
Staff saw her working through difficult moments and began to believe she would stay.
Those skills can help fellows as they move into jobs in healthcare, skilled trades and manufacturing. As graduation approaches, fellows spend more time preparing for interviews, meeting potential employers and pursuing credentials. Empowerment Plan reports that 85% of fellows secure employment upon graduation, with last year’s graduates earning an average of $17.50 an hour.
For a full year after graduation, fellows can turn to the team for coaching, with an additional $1,000 in assistance available to help keep an unexpected expense from undoing their progress.
“A lot of the people that we serve don’t have the luxury of having family to call when something happens,” Scott said.
As the new program takes shape, staff are listening closely to understand where that support is needed most. The Walters Family Foundation has given them room to learn and make changes without having every answer in advance.
That trust lets Empowerment Plan respond when fellows need more time, a different approach or help with something they have struggled with alone. Each adjustment is another chance to help someone stay and build the future they came for.
