Program:
The Suiting Program
- Budget:
-
$6,085,227
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Female Adults
-
Ethnic/Racial Minorities -- General
-
Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General
Program Description:
The Suiting Program is the first of many steps in a client’s path towards self-sufficiency and the actualization of her professional goals. Once they have secured an interview, clients are referred to us from one of our local partner agencies. On their first visit to Dress for Success, volunteers help them to pick out a suit and accessories for their interview. All of these women come to us without the means necessary to acquire an interview suit on their own. Not only does a professional appearance influence the final decision of a potential employer, but it also fosters confidence in the woman wearing the suit. This self-assuredness helps to guarantee that our clients will be fully-prepared to go on an interview, ready to answer and ask questions, and are more likely to secure meaningful employment.
Program Long-Term Success:
Not only does a professional appearance influence the final decision of a potential employer, but it also fosters confidence in the woman wearing the suit. This self-assuredness helps to guarantee that our clients will be fully-prepared to go on an interview, ready to answer and ask questions, and are more likely to secure meaningful employment.
Program Short-Term Success:
For many of our clients, owning a suit is a brand new experience. More than 50% have never owned a suit before coming to Dress for Success.
Program Success Monitored by:
Dress for Success Worldwide monitors the number of clients who come to our organization for an interview suiting, versus the percentage of those who return for an employment suiting (once a client secures employment, she can return to Dress for Success for additonal professional apparel). This process is overseen by the branch manager.
Program Success Examples:
Over 40,000 women worldwide received career attire from Dress for Success in 2009.
Program:
The Career Center
- Budget:
-
$49,080
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Female Adults
-
Ethnic/Racial Minorities -- General
-
Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General
Program Description:
Beginning with their first visit to Dress for Success, clients are encouraged to use our Career Center, which promotes confidence and professionalism by providing them with career guidance, educational resources, and support to help them secure and maintain employment, while also enhancing their professional skills. Staff members and volunteers work one-on-one with clients by helping them to create superior résumés and cover letters, providing career counseling and mock interviews, and facilitating access to professional skills training courses.
Half of the women that we serve do not have access to a computer, printer, or the internet outside of the Career Center. This technology is a key tool in preparing for and obtaining a rewarding career. The Career Center gives the women that we serve the resources and support to help them secure employment, build their careers, and enhance their professional skills.
The women that we serve also have access to over 6,000 online learning courses through the Career Center. These courses cover both hard skill development, such as Microsoft certifications and business writing, and soft skill development, such as customer service, leadership and management. This unique opportunity allows women to learn new skills at their own pace, take one course in a variety of content areas or complete a series of courses with increasing difficulty on one particular topic to gain full mastery of the skill. Dress for Success staff and volunteers have been trained to assist clients in using this program, should they have any questions. Another unique initiative of Dress for Success that is distributed through our Career Center is our resource book, “Steps to Success: A Guide to Success in the Workplace”. This publication helps our clients to prepare for their new job, confront the obstacles that they may encounter during their first month of employment, and identify future professional goals.
Program Long-Term Success:
Our Career Centers act as a safety net for our clients by helping those involved in the PWG to successfully ask for a raise and providing women who have lost their jobs with a place to go where they can accelerate their job search. The Career Center also acts as a safety net for our partner agencies by supplementing the services that these agencies already provide.
Program Short-Term Success:
This program gives clients a competitive edge when searching for new employment or vying for a promotion.
Program Success Monitored by:
In order to measure the impact on our clients, as well as the overall success of our programs and services, we collect client information through direct surveys. Our findings help Dress for Success Worldwide to better understand the path of women who are emerging from poverty and re-entering the workforce or entering it for the first time. These findings also help us to evaluate the needs, challenges, and successes that our affiliates have encountered. In particular, the evaluation process assists our organization in continuing to provide the disadvantaged women that we serve with contemporary employment retention and career development programs and services.
Program Success Examples:
In 2008, Dress for Success worked one-on-one with 7,500 women in our Career Centers around the world.
Program:
The Professional Women’s Group
- Budget:
-
$116,548
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Female Adults
-
Ethnic/Racial Minorities -- General
-
Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General
Program Description:
The Professional Women's Group (PWG) encourages economic independence and career development by providing employed Dress for Success clients with a network of support, practical information, and the inspiration to achieve self-defined success in their career and life. It is the first and only employment retention model of its kind that moves low-income women towards self-sufficiency by addressing their social and economic needs in relation to work, home, and their community. The PWG is operated like a professional association and membership is free and lifelong to all women who join. The Professional Women's Group consists of monthly seminars on a variety of career development topics, networking with fellow members and other professionals in the community, and opportunities to participate in one-on-one career coaching, mentoring, and much more. Currently, 56 Dress for Success affiliates across the United States and Canada operate Professional Women’s Groups, with 11,000 total members.
Program Long-Term Success:
75% of PWG members remained employed after one year. (According to a study of post-employment retention programs across the United States conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., only about 40% of participants remained employed in the same job for one year.)
Program Short-Term Success:
The Professional Women's Group encourages economic independence and career development.
Program Success Monitored by:
In order to measure the impact on our clients, as well as the overall success of our programs and services, we collect client information through direct surveys. Additional surveys are administered when a client first joins the Professional Women’s Group, as well as on her one and two-year membership anniversaries. In all three surveys, we ask for information pertaining to her current employment and financial status, as well as other self-sufficiency indicators such as housing and children in custodial support. By requesting this information over a three-year period, we are better able to track the direct impact that the PWG has had on our clients. Results received from the surveys are used to make curriculum changes, add or eliminate curriculum topics, and to enhance all of our program offerings.
Our findings help Dress for Success Worldwide to better understand the path of women who are emerging from poverty and re-entering the workforce or entering it for the first time. These findings also help us to evaluate the needs, challenges, and successes that our affiliates have encountered. In particular, the evaluation process assists our organization in continuing to provide the disadvantaged women that we serve with contemporary employment retention and career development programs and services.
Program Success Examples:
· 74% of PWG members were confident that they could handle the unexpected without a problem or with hard work.
· 71% reported that they were establishing new social relationships.
· 42% reported that they received a salary increase and 20% were promoted after one year.
· 57% have furthered their education by enrolling in or completing a GED or college program.
· 68% of PWG members reported that they have definite career and personal goals that they would like to achieve