City and state officials, along with representatives from Dress for Success Western Massachusetts celebrated the organization’s new women’s career center with a ribbon cutting at their location on 45 Lyman St. on Jan. 15.
Reminder Publishing photos by Ryan Feyre
SPRINGFIELD — Jess Roncarati-Howe remembers the days when Dress for Success Western Massachusetts was operating out of an old dentist’s office in the now-defunct Eastfield Mall.
“Just over a year ago, we were rammed into an old dentist’s office that, no matter how hard our volunteers worked, looked like an old dentist’s office,” said Roncarati-Howe, the executive director for Dress for Success Western Massachusetts.
Those days, however, are long gone for the highly regarded nonprofit organization, whose goal is to empower unemployed and underemployed women and nonbinary people to achieve economic independence by providing no-fee programs, development tools and professional attire.
The organization has spent the last few months operating out of a bigger, more accessible space in downtown Springfield at 45 Lyman St., which is where city officials and state legislators gathered with the public on Jan. 15 to celebrate Dress for Success’ new women’s career center.
“This beautiful space that we’re sharing will be a haven for women and gender non-binary people who want a better life for themselves and their families,” Roncarati-Howe said during a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the new center. “In partnership with agencies across the community…it will welcome the most marginalized among us; it will be a center of hope and opportunity.”
The center includes newly constructed office spaces and program areas where women and nonbinary people can receive assistance with resume creation, job searching, career coaching, digital literacy, financial literacy and much more.
According to leaders from Dress for Success, the center’s boutique — which offers shoes, clothes, purses and jewelry to women and nonbinary people seeking a leg up in their work life — is now much more organized.
“We really want to take a holistic approach here at the center,” Roncarati-Howe told Reminder Publishing. “We want to help change lives.”
Dress for Success Western Massachusetts has been around for 25 years. In 2023, the organization was forced to relocate after it was announced that the Eastfield Mall, where they used to reside, would shutter.
On July 14, 2023 — one day before the mall closed to the public — the nonprofit packed up its final items and moved to the 45 Lyman St. location, which is where the O’Dell Women’s Center offers low-cost residences to nonprofit organizations that specialize in improving the lives of women.
Tracy Friedenberg, the president of Dress for Success’ board of directors, said Dress for Success was the first tenant to reside in the building after O’Dell purchased it.
“From that moment on, we worked to not only move from Eastfield Mall, but to sort of reinvent ourselves,” Friedenberg said. “For about a year and a half, we were working in this beautiful space, but not as built out as you see here today.”
The building out of the center was made possible through the help of organizations like the Women’s Foundation of Boston, the MassMutual Center, public donations and more.
According to Roncarati-Howe, the new center will make Dress for Success’ workforce development programming available to hundreds more individuals each year, both on a drop-in basis and through regularly scheduled workshops.
In his comments about the new women’s career center, Mayor Domenic Sarno said he is happy that his administration has been able to fund and support Dress for Success.
“Sometimes, each and every one of us … needs a helping hand,” Sarno said. “You need the career center to see what avenues are open for you. On top of that, you might see some avenues here you thought were not open for you, but here, they can direct you on how to open those doors.”
State Rep. Carlos Gonzalez (D-Springfield) was also in attendance to celebrate the momentous occasion, as well as state Rep. Brian Ashe (D-Longmeadow), state Rep. Orlando Ramos (D-Springfield) and City Councilors Zaida Govan, Maria Perez and Kateri Walsh.
Perez, who represents the ward in which Dress for Success now resides, told the public during the ceremony that Dress for Success has been a critical resource for the grassroots organization she is president of, called “Women on the Vanguard.”
“Everybody in this room knows how passionate I am when it comes to the platform of women,” Perez said. “Dress for Success helped me out in my development to what I am today.”
That same sentiment was also shared by Eliana Gutierrez, the legislative aide to Gonzalez, who told a story of how Dress for Success helped her earlier in life after she decided to make a career change to better accommodate her duties as a mother.
“It was my first time seeing myself in a nice business suit … It was one of those times you believe in yourself,” she said. “It gives you the confidence to feel like, as a woman, you can conquer everything.”
Readers can learn more about Dress for Success by visiting prior Reminder Publishing coverage or by visiting their website, westernmass.dressforsuccess.org.
Drop-in hours for the career center will be Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with some evening hours to be determined and occasional weekend hours by appointment.
