Founded in 2005, Dress for Success Pittsburgh was established to empower women to become self-sufficient and exit poverty. From our beginnings in a church basement serving 69 women the first year, we have grown to four branches serving five SW Pennsylvania counties and working with over 150 referral partners. Today, we provide clothing and employment readiness support to women across the region.
While we may be best known for providing suits and professional clothing to women, we are first and foremost an anti-poverty organization that focuses on providing a continuum of support and opportunities for vulnerable, low-income women to compete, advance, and support themselves and their families without the need to rely on public assistance.
We achieve our mission through providing suiting and uniform items for women. Women are referred to us who are currently interviewing or who have secured work and need appropriate clothing items. The women we serve work with suiting specialists to choose appropriate clothing for their needs. Additionally, during these consultations, women are provided with interview preparation skills.
Foster Love Project (FLP), a Wilkinsburg-based 5013c, exists to show love in action to children impacted by foster and kinship care through the provision of goods, services, and support to ensure all children, no matter their family composition, will be treated with dignity and self-worth, so they are empowered to thrive.
The Foster Love Project Bag program was launched in 2014 by founder and current Executive Director Kelly Hughes, a foster and adoptive parent, to care for children in foster care and support kinship and foster families residing in western Pennsylvania and those within driving distance. Since its establishment as a 5013c organization in 2016, and thanks to generous partners and volunteers, Foster Love Project has supported over 17,000 children and 3,000 children annually through seven intentionally designed and critical programs.
As one of the largest and most diverse social and human service organizations in the region, Goodwill serves thousands of people each year and helps thousands of individuals find jobs. We provide a broad array of employment-related education and workforce development services for people with special needs and barriers to employment, including individuals with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities, displaced workers, participants in welfare-to-work programs, people who are homeless, have limited work experience or education, job skills or training, veterans, youth and older workers, and people with criminal backgrounds.
An average of over 90% of all revenue raised by Goodwill supports our job-training and employment programs.
We have more than 30 stores and several other businesses to help to support our programs and to provide training and employment opportunities for clients. Revenues from Goodwill stores – along with income from our other business units, salvage sales, contract work, rehabilitation grants and fees, and public support – go directly to job-training services and equipment needed by people with disabilities and disadvantages.
The Homeless Children’s Education Fund (HCEF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1999 to support the educational needs of children experiencing homelessness in Allegheny County. Over the years, HCEF’s role in the community has developed and expanded to meet these needs. HCEF relies on support from community foundations, corporations, and individuals and receives no governmental funding.
Partner4Work is the workforce development organization that connects funding, expertise and opportunities for employers, job seekers, agencies, and policy makers to develop a thriving workforce in the Pittsburgh area.