How CCS Alumni Are Stepping Up in a Moment of Crisis

Empowerment Plan workers producing personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers.

The Empowerment Plan is producing personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline nurses, doctors and hospital workers, in partnership with Detroit nonprofit Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISIC) and with funding from the player-led Detroit Lions Inspire Change initiative. Founded in 2012 by CCS alumna and company CEO Veronika Scott (’11, Product Design), the Empowerment Plan typically produces Scott’s innovative weather-resistant sleeping bag coats, the EMPWR Coat, for the homeless, providing jobs and training in the process.

As part of this new initiative to battle the coronavirus, the company has pivoted its production to create surgical-grade isolation gowns and masks for local and regional hospitals. The initiative enables the Empowerment Plan to maintain 15 employees at full-time pay, and, as of the end of April, the company is producing more than 1,500 gowns per week for frontline medical workers. “We are grateful to be a part of this community that is serving a big purpose right now,” Scott said on Twitter. “And also to be able to continue our mission. We are able to support those we employ through the work that we do with our case managers and program team…and, at the same time, our product is still serving a need in the community. We’re able to give back to hospitals and people in the healthcare community who are putting their lives at risk every day.”

CCS alumna Margo Delidow (’90, Fine Arts) a conservator for Whryta Contemporary Art Conservation along with her partner and alumnus Eric Meier(’95, Fine Arts), have applied their conservation skills to producing PPE for frontline workers. According to the Whitney Museum of Art, “After hearing about a shortage of gowns and masks in hospitals across the country, the duo began making face shields out of Tyvek and foam for use by healthcare professionals. Using their technical skills and community connections, Margo and Eric have been building the shields in their South Bronx home and shipping them to hospitals,” including the ICU at Detroit’s own Sinai Hospital.

In response to the global pandemic and its direct effect on Detroit communities, CCS alumna Lesley DiPiazza (09, Crafts), principal of DiPiazza Handmade, has created The Detroit Hand Sanitizer Project and Detroit Loves You Masks, a grassroots initiative partnered with local organizations to distribute free hand sanitizer to first responders, essential workers and anyone in need. To date, DiPiazza has distributed more than 2,000 bottles of free hand sanitizer and more than 2,000 face masks and coronavirus safety guidelines.

CCS alumna Lesley DiPiazza (09, Crafts), principal of DiPiazza Handmade and creator of The Detroit Hand Sanitizer Project and Detroit Loves You Masks.

As DiPiazza noted at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, “Hand sanitizer has become essential as this COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the country, and Detroit has been hit especially hard. It is now sold out in most physical stores and becoming really hard to find. Buying it online often takes 2+ weeks to receive as well. Typically, if you are lucky enough to find it, it’s only being sold in larger volumes like by the gallon. At $50 per gallon, it is impractical or inaccessible for many Detroiters.”

In support of the project, DiPiazza created a Go Fund Me which surpassed its original $7,000 goal and to date has raised more than $7,300 toward a $10,000 goal. They are still in need of donations, which can be made here: http://thedetroithandsanitizerproject.com

Check back with CCS for more stories about what our alumni are doing to make a difference.