In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day on March 8, we are partnering with the Empowerment Plan!

We will be accepting donations of socks, mittens, and hats at Founders Taproom – Detroit during our normal hours of operation throughout the month of March.

Empowerment Plan is a Detroit-based nonprofit organization dedicated to breaking the generational cycles of homelessness and poverty through employment. We hire single parents from local shelters and train them to become full-time seamstresses so that they can earn a stable income, find secure housing, and gain back their independence for themselves and for their families. The individuals hired manufacture a coat that can transform into a sleeping bag or an over-the-shoulder bag when not in use. In addition to receiving training in industrial sewing and manufacturing, program participants are presented with supportive services and on-site programming during paid work hours, a model intended to yield lasting impact. Since founding in 2012, Empowerment Plan has become an intensive transitional workforce model, pulling 65 families from homelessness, and distributing more than 30,000 sleeping bag coats to homeless individuals globally through partnerships we have established with outreach organizations. We are fully committed to the long-term success of those we employ, in both their personal and professional lives. Empowerment Plan’s focus is on providing economic mobility and sustainable career pathways for one of the most underserved and hard to reach populations: homeless women with children, many of whom are minority single mothers.