Non Profit Profile: Dress for Success Calgary

Who hasn’t been through a nerve-wracking interview where you’re trying your best to make a good first impression? Nothing helps more than making sure you’re dressed to the nines to give you that extra boost of confidence. Some of us may even look forward to buying new duds for that big interview. While this may be a ritual associated with the job hunt for many of us, there are people out there who just don’t have that option… which is why you should learn more about the project called Dress for Success.

In 1997, Dress for Success was founded in New York City as an international not-for-profit organization that offered services designed to assist clients to find jobs and remain employed. Fourteen years after the organization was founded, the Dress for Success Calgary affiliate was created by Trena Olfert along with a powerful team of women who believed that it was their duty to support, bring hope and encourage other women who needed assistance in our hometown. 

Christine Landry, the Co-Chair for the Calgary organization, shared many interesting facts about some of the biggest challenges faced by disadvantaged women in Calgary. For instance, many of the clients are new to Canada or are single mothers who represent all races and ethnicities. More than 70% are single mothers, raising an average of 2-3 children and more than 60% are ages 18-38. Perhaps the most disquieting fact was that 100% lived under the poverty level prior to coming to Dress for Success.

Dress For Success changes the lives of Canadian and new Canadian women by outfitting them with clothing for employment. Each client is given an average of five outfits – 20 to 30 articles of clothing – including shoes and various accessories. The clothes and accessories are meant to provide the client with a complete quality wardrobe for interviews and ongoing employment. Professionally trained Wardrobe Consultants offer a by appointment only, one-on-one service in which they work together to choose attire that will best fit the client’s needs and individual style. 

According to the organization, “While we may be best known for providing suits to women, it is our employment retention programs that are the cornerstone of the organization.”  

We asked Christine if there were any success stories she could share and she told us about a young woman who came to Calgary from Ecuador in 1981. As part of a working class family, she learned at a very young age that education, honesty and hard work would bring her far in life. At the age of 17, and before starting her own professional path, she helped to raise her baby sister for a few years. She learned to appreciate the many social and financial challenges women have to face in order to succeed in a professional field while raising a family. Five years after her arrival in Calgary, she got a job as a Program Adviser in a prestigious Calgary post-secondary institution. She is succeeding in her new life in part thanks to all of the support and encouragement that she has received from Dress for Success Calgary, as well as many other wonderful Calgarians who she has encountered on her journey. 

On October 19th, Dress for Success Calgary is hosting the One Woman, Many Faces Gala, which will take place at the Fuller’s Edge studio in Inglewood. If you don’t have any plans that evening, we highly recommend going out to support. For details on the gala, click here

“Each woman is a success story: she has gone from unemployment to economic independence.”

A few more interesting facts on the Dress for Success organization:

– Dress for Success has suited more than 550,000 women since our inception in 1997.
– In 2010 alone Dress for Success served over 50,000 women.
– Dress for Success has affiliate locations in more than 110 cities across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland, Australia, Mexico, Ireland and the West Indies.
– 75% of Professional Women’s Group members have retained their jobs after one year.
– 62% of Professional Women’s Group members have been promoted and received salary increases.
– 60% of Professional Women’s Group members have improved their credit.
– 57% of Professional Women’s Group members have furthered their education be enrolling in or completing a GED or college program. 

Photo courtesy Dress for Success