Dress It Forward Boutique
Donation protected
Help us create the first Dress It Forward Boutique to dress vulnerable women for job interviews from donated clothes.
We are Sefton & Liverpool Women in Business CIC, a network of over 3000 women who wanted to inspire, help, encourage and educate other women and girls within their communities. More info here.
Our Dress It Forward project started in 2014 as a one off course "Inspired to Independence", for female ex offenders, and has grown into a pathway that includes the opportunities to learn, volunteer, inspire and engage with local communities upon release. We work alongside many other organisations including the National Probation Service (NPS), Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and the Apex Trust and provide complimentary services and courses to those they already offer.
Our primary outcomes are to help women enhance and develop their employability prospects, explore opportunities within further education, volunteering and self employment, learn new marketable skills, build self confidence and esteem, raise aspirations and equip them with an understanding of perceptions and self awareness.
The women we work with often have patchy education, little or no previous work experience, low self esteem, low aspirations in life, and have experience of abusive relationships, substance misuse issues. These and other barriers, coupled with their criminal convictions, mean this group find it incredibly difficult to secure meaningful employment, and often end up undertaking roles with no career opportunities or security, which hinders their desire to find financial independence, and can often push them back into old habits of reoffending. Our project assists in reducing the risk of women reoffending and the revolving door phenomena. More info here.
We want to raise money to help us start and run for 12 months our first Dress It Forward Boutique in Bootle, Liverpool so we can increase the number of women we help. We have been offered premises rent free with an 80% reduction in business rates. We need to find money to pay that portion of the rates as well as utility bills and internet costs. In addition we need a small amount of money to buy clothes rails, storage units and coat hangers to keep the donated clothes clean and tidy, while making the space look appealing and professional.
For 18 months now we have been collecting unwanted workwear, shoes and accessories from women across Merseyside, from all walks of life, to dress the women we work with when they get job interviews. Women are referred to us by our working partners at NPS and CRC once they have secured an interview or they come through our courses and volunteering opportunities. And the project keeps growing, and we have recognised that in order to keep up with increasing demand and be able to store ever increasing donations, we need a suitable space.
Our volunteers (often offenders themselves who have been through one or more of our courses) spend up to an hour with each woman, finding out what role she is being interviewed for and what sort of clothes she feels comfortable in i.e. dress, skirt, trousers. They will then select a few options from our reserves for the woman to try, and she will choose her favourite and take that home to keep. Volunteers will also ask women a range of traditional interview questions during the appointment, giving feedback and advice on interview techniques. If the woman is identified as needing further support either from ourselves or other organisations, volunteers will make those referrals.
Many women leaving custody, will have very little in the way of personal possessions and as a consequence they routinely have no suitable clothes for interview, business meetings etc. The women we work with have told us how valuable the dressing service we offer is to them and how their self confidence and esteem are significantly raised by having a smart outfit that they feel makes them "look the part". They also report to us frequently that it means to them to receive help and support from other women within the community who are donating their clothes. They see it as a positive affirmation that not all people view them as bad, and there are those willing to support them as they try and turn their lives around.
We help these women turn their lives around for the better. And it has a knock on effect as their families, friends and dependants watch these positive changes. They become inspired and encouraged, and collectively these subtle changes can go a long way towards breaking down cycles of behaviour that have often blighted generations.
Please help us help these women reclaim their true potential. It would mean the world to us to be able to expand our services and help more women.
Thanks you for taking the time to read this.
Steph x
We are Sefton & Liverpool Women in Business CIC, a network of over 3000 women who wanted to inspire, help, encourage and educate other women and girls within their communities. More info here.
Our Dress It Forward project started in 2014 as a one off course "Inspired to Independence", for female ex offenders, and has grown into a pathway that includes the opportunities to learn, volunteer, inspire and engage with local communities upon release. We work alongside many other organisations including the National Probation Service (NPS), Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and the Apex Trust and provide complimentary services and courses to those they already offer.
Our primary outcomes are to help women enhance and develop their employability prospects, explore opportunities within further education, volunteering and self employment, learn new marketable skills, build self confidence and esteem, raise aspirations and equip them with an understanding of perceptions and self awareness.
The women we work with often have patchy education, little or no previous work experience, low self esteem, low aspirations in life, and have experience of abusive relationships, substance misuse issues. These and other barriers, coupled with their criminal convictions, mean this group find it incredibly difficult to secure meaningful employment, and often end up undertaking roles with no career opportunities or security, which hinders their desire to find financial independence, and can often push them back into old habits of reoffending. Our project assists in reducing the risk of women reoffending and the revolving door phenomena. More info here.
We want to raise money to help us start and run for 12 months our first Dress It Forward Boutique in Bootle, Liverpool so we can increase the number of women we help. We have been offered premises rent free with an 80% reduction in business rates. We need to find money to pay that portion of the rates as well as utility bills and internet costs. In addition we need a small amount of money to buy clothes rails, storage units and coat hangers to keep the donated clothes clean and tidy, while making the space look appealing and professional.
For 18 months now we have been collecting unwanted workwear, shoes and accessories from women across Merseyside, from all walks of life, to dress the women we work with when they get job interviews. Women are referred to us by our working partners at NPS and CRC once they have secured an interview or they come through our courses and volunteering opportunities. And the project keeps growing, and we have recognised that in order to keep up with increasing demand and be able to store ever increasing donations, we need a suitable space.
Our volunteers (often offenders themselves who have been through one or more of our courses) spend up to an hour with each woman, finding out what role she is being interviewed for and what sort of clothes she feels comfortable in i.e. dress, skirt, trousers. They will then select a few options from our reserves for the woman to try, and she will choose her favourite and take that home to keep. Volunteers will also ask women a range of traditional interview questions during the appointment, giving feedback and advice on interview techniques. If the woman is identified as needing further support either from ourselves or other organisations, volunteers will make those referrals.
Many women leaving custody, will have very little in the way of personal possessions and as a consequence they routinely have no suitable clothes for interview, business meetings etc. The women we work with have told us how valuable the dressing service we offer is to them and how their self confidence and esteem are significantly raised by having a smart outfit that they feel makes them "look the part". They also report to us frequently that it means to them to receive help and support from other women within the community who are donating their clothes. They see it as a positive affirmation that not all people view them as bad, and there are those willing to support them as they try and turn their lives around.
We help these women turn their lives around for the better. And it has a knock on effect as their families, friends and dependants watch these positive changes. They become inspired and encouraged, and collectively these subtle changes can go a long way towards breaking down cycles of behaviour that have often blighted generations.
Please help us help these women reclaim their true potential. It would mean the world to us to be able to expand our services and help more women.
Thanks you for taking the time to read this.
Steph x
Organizer
Stephanie Wright
Organizer
