The Newcastle-Hunter showroom of Dress for Success Sydney is on the brink of closure due to a funding crisis. The charity is appealing to the Newcastle-Hunter community to rally and support their impactful work by helping to crowdfund $75,000 by this September. This amount equates to the cost to keep the showroom doors open for a year.
Operating in Sydney since 2010, Dress for Success Sydney saw the need to expand employment support
services to the Newcastle-Hunter region, and with community support, opened a pop-up showroom in 2019.
Now, with a permanent showroom space in Broadmeadow, the branch supports more than 200 women a year through their signature interview styling and presentation skills offering, career support workshops and one-on-one job preparation services. The volunteer-led organisation shifted to online service delivery during the pandemic and added Virtual Styling to the mix, a program that has since expanded to deliver quality clothing to women in regional New South Wales. Newcastle-Hunter volunteers were pivotal during the 2021 lockdowns, running the Style Delivered program: selecting, packing, and sending clothing parcels to women for work, prison release and disaster relief.
The not-for-profit does not receive regular government funding and relies heavily on fundraising campaigns
and in-person events to fund its programs and services. The latter of which was heavily impacted over the last two years. “Our small team hustles to forge philanthropic relationships and deliver fundraising initiatives but the pandemic really changed how businesses and individuals are able to spend their money”, Leisa Sadler CEO of Dress for Success Sydney explains.
“On the back of the pandemic and with rising living costs and inflation, it is vulnerable women in our community that are disproportionally impacted,” Ms Sadler continues. “Our clients come from all walks of life and have often been through a great deal before even walking through our doors; we have dressed women who have escaped domestic violence with only the clothes on their back, we’ve recently supported Afghani and Ukrainian refugees restarting their lives, we’ve supported women who’ve been out of work for years and need to build the confidence to re-enter the workforce. Giving a chance to women across all facets of life and circumstance without any discrimination has always been of upmost importance to Dress for Success Sydney.”
With the number of women who face unemployment and homelessness increasing in the region, the need for a service like Dress for Success is paramount. “There is no doubt that unemployment is the leading cause of homelessness among women,” Ms Sadler says, “research shows that 29% of unemployed women in Newcastle were either homeless or marginally housed. One-third of the homeless and marginally housed people in Newcastle are women over the age of 20. We know that women over the age of 45 are the fastest growing cohort of homeless people; women who may have even been successful in their early years but have fallen into debt, unemployment, or have significantly smaller superannuation due to time out of the workforce.
Empowering women to get back on their feet and become financially independent will absolutely combat this growing problem in the Newcastle-Hunter region.”
“We are appealing to the local community to help us continue our impactful work in Newcastle-Hunter, to donate to the GoFundMe page now and spread the word. Your donation is an investment in the future. When women work, families thrive, communities prosper, and the economy grows,” says Ms Sadler.
To donate, please visit ‘Save the Newcastle-Hunter DfSS Showroom!’ GoFundMe page: https://gofund.me/20b0e42e
