A re-energized Dress for Success Quad Cities is spreading the word that not only have reports of its death been greatly exaggerated, it’s growing its life-changing suitings and programs to help more women achieve financial independence.
As leaders of the nonprofit women’s empowerment organization were preparing for their Wednesday, Oct. 16, Recycle the Runway fundraiser Executive Director Mauricio Diaz met with the QCBJ to talk about how Dress has evolved and grown over the past two years.
When Mr. Diaz came aboard in May of 2022, it was a time of transition for the organization, located at 423 E. 32nd St., Davenport. Former leader Tyla Sherwin-Cole left that March to become chief executive director of the Doris & Victor Day Foundation and the Dress organization’s paid staff had shrunk to one part-timer.
As a result there were fewer than a handful of wardrobe suitings in his first month. “It really pushed me to get out into the community more,” Mr. Diaz said. That included sharing the Dress story at 700-plus meetings of Quad Cities groups and working “really to understand how they perceive us and what we can do to be better.” One disturbing discovery was that many of those he encountered believed Dress for Success had closed its doors.
Mr. Diaz not only assures them that Dress is open and thriving, he also addressed “the elephant in the room:” What is a man doing leading a women’s empowerment organization?
“I have more than just one identity as well,” said Mr. Diaz, whose family came to Chicago from Mexico, led by a mother who knew just enough English to get by. “I’m an immigrant in this country. I have the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) viewpoint and the immigrant viewpoint.”
That’s why he said, “I think it’s also very important to serve different populations.”
That’s also what he did in his previous constituency engagement role with Iowa political campaigns. There, he worked with the disability caucus, the women’s caucus, the Black caucus, the rural caucus and more.
Those experiences and others have inspired Mr. Diaz to be sure that the organization he leads is open “to any woman, nonbinary person that doesn’t mind dressing in fem-presenting clothings and it’s open to transwomen and it’s open to anyone.”
Taking Dress on the road
Mr. Diaz said “For me diversity is more than just how someone looks. It’s also a location.” He wants to find ways to better serve rural areas via a traveling boutique that will take wardrobes and fittings on the road.
“I think there needs to be more Dresses,” he added, citing that the Quad Cities location encompasses the entire bi-state region as well as the Iowa communities of Dubuque and Iowa City.
That focus on expansion, program creation and growth have been hallmarks of Mr. Diaz’s tenure, and Dress and its staff of now four are seeing the results.
In 2023, the Quad Cities organization served 192% more women than it did in 2022. “And this year we’re already over 100% of last year, and that’s through word of mouth,” Mr. Diaz said.
Chris Papke, president of the Dress for Success Board, is excited by the evolution under the executive director’s leadership. The vice president of sales for Silver Oaks Communications joined Dress for Success as a volunteer “because I’ve been very fortunate to have a very strong female support system, and whenever I’ve encountered any obstacles I‘ve had the strong female support system in place.” Sadly, she said, “not everyone has that.”
That’s where Dress for Success shines. “We definitely do the suitings, but there’s also the career coaching, and the resume reviews and group workshops on all kinds of different topics. There’s so much more to Dress for Success than just putting somebody in a great outfit,” Ms. Papke added.
The board Ms. Papke leads is composed of volunteers who are experts in banking, workplace development and other related fields including Tina Manely and Jennifer Crawford, both of whom have been served by Dress.
Ms. Manley has been part of the Dress for Success family for 11 years. “I was leaving an abusive marriage and starting over,” she explained. “I had taken some classes from Dress for Success and decided I wanted to pursue going back to school for a cosmetology degree.”
After graduation, she opened Tina Rina Salon & Spa in Davenport.
Today she’s working on a degree in aesthetics. Importantly, too, she is “ getting ready to celebrate my 10th anniversary in my salon and spa and helping mentor other women in the building that I manage.”
All three of these board members also have supported Mr. Diaz’s efforts to grow the ways Dress helps women.
Lifting barriers to help
“Mauricio has really taken the initiative to remove any barriers to access and whatever that means,” Ms. Papke said. “If that means he needs to flex hours a little bit, he’s going to do that. If that means there needs to be a paper application for a program, he’s going to do that as opposed to doing something online. He’s just doing the work, whatever that means, he’s going to do the work and I appreciate that about him.”
Mr. Diaz’s gender is also an advantage. “If you want to open up advocacy, we have a man who is advocating for women as well, and I don’t think that hurts us,” Ms. Papke said. “He’s out there talking to men as well as women.”
His efforts also have included relaunching the Professional Women’s Group and reviving its old name, Mr. Diaz said. That “sisterhood” meets every third Tuesday each month. Why bring it back? “It’s important to have a space where, now that you have a job, how do you keep it?” he said.
Finding such relationships is key to its clients’ success so Dress is working on making it easier to maintain them, for example, by providing dinner and welcoming kids to women’s group meetings. Also under Mr. Diaz’s direction, wait times for suiting appointments have been eliminated to quickly serve at-risk women who are homeless, have experienced violence or some other life-changing event.
When Dress makes it possible to do same-day suitings for women in crisis, volunteer image coaches not only outfit them to interview for jobs — the session and wardrobe raise their self esteem and benefit the women and their families more than just financially.
“Oftentimes, we’re not just giving them the clothing, we’re giving them the clothing that they actually want to wear,” Mr. Diaz said. “We have what we call image coaches — they used to be called personal shoppers — that curate the outfits for them.”
The coach’s job is to make sure that “the experience is just about them,” he said, and build a relationship with the women that can make the suitings feel like a shopping trip with girlfriends. Dress has 15-20 image coaches, but is always looking for more. It also needs resume reviewers, guest speakers and career coaches. To see how to help, visit www.dressforsuccessqc.org. Click on the “Volunteer” portal under the “Get Involved” tab.
Volunteers frequently get as much out of the suitings as the women they dress. They also often have a lot in common with them. In fact, Mr. Diaz said, many have said “I wish Dress was here when I was starting out.”
Delivering real results
That’s because it gets results. Mr. Diaz said there’s about a 70% chance clients will get a job “after just the interview suiting,” in part, due to the confidence it generates.
While the sessions are called suitings, they’re not all about power suits or business casualwear. Dress also outfits non-office workers, for both the interview to capture a new job and for attire that fits the non-office environments where they’ll work including: retail, health care, logistics, manufacturing and more. To serve them, its Davenport center welcomes contributions to help stock a room with workwear including khakis, jeans, black pants for food service, shoes, scrubs and boots.
Wardrobe is only part of what Dress does. “We’re trying to build Dress to the point where it’s not just a boutique, it’s a place folks can really come in and if they ask for help, they get the help they need,” he said.
That includes adding a new mobile career center to the spaces it provides where career coaches can look over resumes and provide other services. The first of those events — where career coaches bring along snacks and serve as ambassadors and “meet people where they are” — is at 5:30 p.m., Oct. 3, at East Moline Public Library. ”Even if we serve one person there, that really makes all the difference,” Mr. Diaz said.
Dress also is reaching out to women who want to work for themselves through the new entrepreneurial cohort created by the international organization. It will serve 10 women who want to start their own businesses in the woman-centered space at Dress. The 12-week program is in addition to the help women are urged to get from groups such as SCORE. And it includes such things as working with H&R Block to go over business plans at no cost.
Before this addition, Mr. Diaz said, “we were only promoting getting jobs.”
The need for more was clear. “We had women come, for example, who said, ‘Hey, I’m starting my own insurance business, I don’t know how to dress.’”
Though all these changes deliver results, they also come at a cost. In fact, Dress went into deficit spending in 2023 for the first time since 2018. That was not unexpected, Mr. Diaz said, because Dress has been investing more in programs and it will continue to do so to fulfill its mission while looking to supporters to help pay for it.
Importantly, too, Dress is now paying its staff a living wage. “If we are talking the talk, we have to walk the walk.”
TO HELP WOMEN SUCCEED:
Volunteer and giving opportunities at Quad Cities Dress for Success include:
Career coach: Working one-on-one with women to practice interview, job search skills, and offer career guidance to help re-enter the workforce or transition to a new job.
Guest speaker: Design and deliver a one-hour workshop or presentation to Dress for Success Quad Cities participants.
Image coach: Help women choose a professional outfit for interviews and/or their job and create a comfortable, safe, inclusive environment to boost self-confidence.
Donation center specialist: Help process incoming clothing donations, determine which donations are boutique-quality and which are appropriate for FAB Friday sales.
Administration: Answer phones and take messages. Assist with data entry, filing, mailing projects and other light office jobs. Welcome visitors and keep the boutique area clean and organized.
Donate money, clothing and accessories every Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Dress, located at 423 E. 32nd St., Davenport, IA 52803.
Shop FAB Friday events. The cost is $35 to Fill A Bag (FAB) with high-quality clothing and accessories ($50 if you want to take advantage of early-bird shopping).
Find out more about these and other ways to help at dressforsuccessqc.org.
