Dress for Success Washington Affiliate Celebrates 7th Anniversary

On Monday October 19th, Dress for Success Washington Affiliate  celebrated its 7th Anniversary at the swanky W Hotel  in Washington, D.C. The Dress for Success 7th Anniversary  honored  Kristen Zastrow for her commitment as a volunteer, David Humphrey and Veria Natural Wellness for leadership as a corporate sponsor and Lisa Mascolo and Accenture as a leading community partner. Michelle Fenty, wife of DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, served as the keynote speaker and Eboni Young-Meekins, a former client of Dress for Success and Professional Women’s Group shared her personal story of success. In the audience we found former D.C. Mayor & Councilman Marion Barry, who congratulated the honorees and shook hands with guests.

Dress for Success is a worldwide charitable organization providing professional attire, mentoring programs and career assistance to women who are making the transition from welfare to work.  In fall of 2002, the Dress for Success Washington DC Affiliate opened its doors to the women in the community by providing free professional clothing in support of community job placement programs for those seeking to leave welfare for the rewards of not just employment but a profession and a better future.

The Washington DC Affiliate realized that to succeed, women in the community would need more than a professional image to improve their prospects, but also mentoring and professional guidance to maintain and flourish in their new-found jobs. The Affiliate established the Professional Women’s Group to help meet those needs. “What we do in addition to providing free professional suits to low-income women seeking employment, once employed, clients are provided with an additional suit and are invited to join the Professional Women’s Group (PWG), says Executive Director Jennifer McNulty.  ”This program provides job retention assistance, career coaching, networking skill development, mentoring, educational programs and supportive services to its members.”

Dress for Success (Washington Affiliate) Executive Director Jennifer McNulty, Eboni Young-Meekins & Michelle Fenty

“Our goal is to suit as many women making this transition as possible. We have suited over 6500 women since opening our doors in October 2002,  says McNulty.  An agency partner (most often a job placement agency) refers each Dress for Success client. Suitings are done by appointment only. Once the client arrives at their boutique, she is greeted by a personal shopper and receives one suit. The client can return to the boutique to be fitted for a “first day of work” suit upon acceptance of a job offer. These suits give women the confidence they need to walk into their interviews. Not only that, 75% of the women who participate in the PWG program retain their jobs and 41% receive salary increases.  No fees are ever charged to either the clients or the member organizations that utilize their services.

Since opening its doors in 2002, the Dress for Success Washington, DC affiliate has served over thousands of  women in the DC Metropolitan area and will continue to meet the needs of women who desire a better life for themselves and their families. If you were unable to celebrate Dress for Success D.C., there is no need to worry. You can still help Dress for Success by  donating  new or gently used women’s professional suits or making a tax-deductible financial contribution.  You can even organize a fundraising event for Dress for Success, volunteer to work as a career coach, mentor or personal shopper. To learn more visit www.dressforsuccess.org today! 

Posted by The Cotillion Online on Nov 9 2009. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry