This holiday season, Chance The Rapper proved again why he is a hometown hero in Chicago.

In an effort to help the city’s homeless, Chance partnered with The Empowerment Plan, a Detroit-based non-profit for the Warmest Winter initiative to distribute coats to the city’s homeless. And according to Billboard, Chance was able to raise $60,000 in 10 days for the project.

The Empowerment Plan hires homeless parents to manufacture coats for other homeless people at no cost. The EMPWR coats, however, are dual-functional. They are warm to wear and serve as a sleeping bag to rest in.

By raising $100,000, Chance’s initiative will be able to distribute 1,000 coats to Chicago’s homeless.

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimated that 125,848 Chicagoans were homeless during the 2014-15 school year, including 20,205 students identified by Chicago Public Schools.

The non-profit aims to have 1,000 new coats ready to go by. Jan. 13.

Author

  • Victoria M. Massie is a freelance writer and anthropologist who is currently the Staff Writer for Black Youth Project. Her work focuses on feminism, politics, science, and diaspora, but, more often than not, she spends her time obsessing about ideas of "home." She is a National Science Foundation fellow and a Lifetime Member of the West African Research Association.