FITTING A NEED

REGION

Suit program grows

When Darvell Washington was released from Dauphin County Prison in August, she had nothing. She didn't have a job. She didn't have money. She didn't have clothes to wear to a job interview.

Dress for Success South Central PA helped.

After leaving prison, Washington signed up for Educational Data Systems Inc. through the state Welfare Department. EDSI is an educational-training program that helps welfare clients become more employable. The program referred her to Dress for Success South Central PA.

Washington, 39, met Ruth Koup this summer, when Koup visited the prison and spoke to the female inmates about the importance of improving one's image to become more employable upon release from prison. Koup is the founder and chief executive officer of Dress for Success South Central PA.

The Dress for Success boutique in SusquehannaTownship matched Washington with a suit for her job interview at UPS. Koup also provided Washington with shoes, makeup, a pocketbook and other accessories, all for free.

"At first, they didn't know if they were going to hire me or not. It was how she dressed me up. It just gave me some self-esteem that I didn't even know I had, and I presented myself that way," Washington said. "The next day, they called me and said I was hired."

Dress for Success opened its second boutique Oct. 1 in York. This move allows the group the potential to help 20 clients a week, whereas it could only assist 20 clients a month in September.

The organization provides professional clothing for women in need. The group relies heavily on individual and corporate monetary contributions and donations of suits and other professional pieces.

"You really have to have a significant inventory to meet the diversity of your clientele," Koup said. "We try to teach women how to build a wardrobe."

Koup began the application process to create the regional group in the fall of 2005. The organization was incorporated in June 2006, and its first location opened in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, in October2006.

"Ruth has shown tremendous enthusiasm and initiative during her first year as a Dress for Success affiliate," said Suzanne Elliott Armstrong, executive vice president of resource development and strategic marketing for Dress for Success Worldwide.

Dress for Success Worldwide is an international, not-for-profit organization that provides professional attire, career development tools and a network of support to disadvantaged women.

The New York City-based group was founded in 1997 and has grown to include 86 affiliates around the world. Seven of those affiliates opened within the past year, Armstrong said.

To become a client at Dress for Success, a woman must be involved in one of the group's more than 25 referral agencies, which are jobtraining programs, such as PA Career Links Capital Region and the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg. That program must then refer the woman to Koup.

Dress for Success will provide one suit and available accessory items when the woman secures a j ob interview. If she gets the j ob, she will receive about a week's worth of separates (skirts, pants, dress shirts). Koup said she has suited about 100 women since the group's inception.

"I think for anybody that's trying to start off, I think Miss Ruth is a good person to start with," Washington said. "She doesn't just apply what she has there. She goes beyond the call of duty and takes you to get what you need."

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Ruth Koup is the founder and chief executive officer of Dress for Success South Central PA. The nonprofit boutique opened in Dauphin County in June 2006. The organization helps women enter the workforce and maintain employment by providing attire for job interviews and, if hired, the workplace.

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About Dress for Success

Dress for Success South Central PA serves clients within 100 miles of Harrisburg, said Ruth Koup, the not-for-profit's founder and chief executive officer.

Koup is looking for one full-time employee for the Dauphin County boutique. She is also looking for a bigger store space in the county. In the near future, Koup hopes to open a boutique in the Carlisle and Lebanon areas, but this will require commitments and support from businesses and individuals in those areas, she said.

"Developing those infrastructures is very important, even before you start suiting people," Koup said.

Dress for Success has received increasing support from the community. The first suit drive was held in January and brought in about 500 suits. The inventory now includes thousands of suits, Koup said.

The group has about five businesses committed to its corporate guild. Members of the guild agree to a three-year commitment of donating $1,000 a year to the organization. The newest member to the guild is York County-based The Bon-Ton Stores Inc., Koup said.

About 80 individuals are registered as volunteers for Dress for Success. They help with a variety of tasks, including organizing new inventory. The group receives up to several hundred pieces of clothing each week.

Dress for Success has also set up partnerships with organizations such as Empire Beauty School in Dauphin County. The school provides free haircuts for Dress for Success' clients, and Dress for Success will provide suits for Empire's students who land job interviews. An area church provides free storage space for the group's inventory, and a local dry cleaner provides free drycleaning services.

For more information, visit www.dressfor success.org/southcentralpa.

-Jessica Bair

[Author Affiliation]

BY JESSICA BAIR

jessicab@journalpub.com