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I recently had the opportunity to intern at Dress for Success Twin Cities (DFS), the local chapter of a global organization founded in 1996 in a Harlem church basement. After Nancy Lublin inherited some money, she worked together with three nuns to invest in women and their financial independence. They helped women with professional attire to get them through interviews and find new jobs.
I helped assemble “confidence kits” from a warehouse in St. Louis Park for clients in Minnesota.
DFS Twin Cities redistributes some of its donations: men’s clothing to the Salvation Army, refers customers with immediate needs to other nonprofits like Vine and Branches, and works with local business Elite Repeat St. Paul, a women-owned and operated designer consignment shop, with profits going towards the purchase of personal and hygiene items.
One of the clients that DFS Twin Cities works with on referrals is the Minnesota Department of Corrections Incarceration Program (CIP), based at the Shakopee Women’s Prison. This summer I helped DFS Twin Cities put together confidence kits of clothing, jewelry, shoes, hygiene products and professional work bags.
CIP started in 1992 when boot camps were popular across the country to reduce the prison population. The program has three phases, lasting six months each, for nonviolent offenders who have 15 to 48 months left on their sentences. The program can reduce a woman’s sentence by up to 42 months after serving the first six months in prison.
One aspect of the program involves education. Women who do not have a high school diploma can take their General Educational Development (GED) test. Completion of this allows them to feel empowered to continue their education after high school. The program introduces participants to admissions counselors from local community and technical colleges. Career interest assessments are available through the Minnesota Career Information System computer program, as well as information about financial aid opportunities.
One part of the curriculum is about the women’s movement and women’s empowerment.
Sandy Hand works in the transition department at MCF-Shakopee. The Transitions Division works to help people secure identification, work on student loan calls, connect them with community resources, including housing, welfare, health care, veterans services and employment.
Lack of clothing for job interviews and employment support for those leaving prison are challenges. Stephanie Silvers, CEO of DFS Twin Cities, contacted Hand ten years ago to help directly serve incarcerated women.
CIP participants are considered minimum security and may leave the grounds if monitored. Prior to the pandemic and the fire that DFS Twin Cities experienced in the summer of 2021, CIP members were able to assist the organization by helping to locate and shut down DFS sales and going downtown themselves to try on and receive clothing as and so are mock job interviews. Hand says, “It helps people be more prepared to get out and have the confidence to find work.”
CIP participants are also involved in other community efforts such as Feed My Starving Children and other local food shelves and work with the Scott County Historical Society.
CIP teacher Randy Feldsien says the facility started bringing women to DFS before they graduate from the program to help prepare them for the workforce. “Volunteers from different companies would do mock interviews with the participants,” he says. “The program helps them with CVs, how to talk about their beliefs and deal with the employment gap while incarcerated for interviews.”
Feldsien says it’s rare for women who complete CIP and stay involved in DFS to return to prison.
Hand said it is important that “women come to DFS in their uniforms from the facility and then transform into a person who is ready for work. It motivates them to go out and start looking for work.”
During the pandemic, CIP participants had the opportunity to hold several virtual meetings with career coaches and review what DFS calls a “personal success plan” to take stock of their skills, their circumstances and what they want from the next chapter of their lives.
DFS Twin Cities purchased a recreational vehicle this year that becomes a mobile trust center to travel around the state to meet women where they are.
Details: dressforsuccesstwincities.org
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