Champions For Change

Debbie Dingell: Helping Another Woman

As vice chair of the General Motors Foundation and executive director of public affairs and community relations at General Motors, Debbie Dingell gets many requests for help from community groups. Yet, in 1995, when Deni Mineta, a friend of Dingell's who was then on the Suited for Change Advisory Council, asked for her help, she readily agreed.

Dingell is an advocate for women in both Washington, D.C. and Detroit, where she divides her time, and she thought Suited was "a great cause." She attended her first Suited for Change event that year and helped Mineta by obtaining gifts for the gala auction. Since then, she has attended many Suited events, and says that the passing years have increased the organization's influence in Washington.

Once she became acquainted with Suited, Dingell donated clothing and helped organize clothing drives at General Motors. In 1997, she joined the Suited advisory council and more recently joined the board of directors. "I am someone who has always thought that women need to help each other," says Dingell. "Suited for Change is an organization that helps women who are going into the workplace have some of the necessities that they need. It was a good cause and I'll do anything that I can to help another woman."

Obtaining support for Suited from the General Motors Foundation, says Dingell, "is not a hard sell. ... Anything that helps our communities matters because I think that communities are the strength of democracy. ... We care about the communities in which we live and we care about the people who are members of that community. Suited makes sure that women, in particular, have the necessary tools that they need to be a success."

Donors are attracted to Suited's advocacy for women in the community, she says. "Suited for Change is an important community group and it's helping women in the workforce. All of us have had hard times in one way or another. A lot of women need to go into the workforce out of sheer economic need. They don't have all the resources they need. Suited for Change is a way to provide some of those resources. Many of us are very, very lucky and this is a way for us to help those who may not be as lucky."

Suited for Change has documented the positive change that it has accomplished for women in the community, and that, too, is important, says Dingell. "In the nonprofit world, there needs to be more accountability," she says. "You need to know that you are giving to something that is producing results and Suited for Change is producing measurable results."

Over the years, Dingell has met several of Suited's clients. "They are wonderful women who needed a boost," she says. "Suited for Change gave them a necessary boost. ... We think nothing of going to a sale and if we see something wanting to buy it. These women can't afford to buy a basic suit because they're putting food on the table for their kids, or one woman was trying to encourage her daughter to go to college. She wanted to help earn money to get her daughter to go to school. There are things that we take for granted and don't think about at all. Other women have to think about these things very hard and very seriously, like even the price of a pair of hose."

Dingell feels personally involved in the mission of Suited for Change. "In the beginning, it really was women just personally involved and knowing why they were doing it and knowing they were making a difference," she says. "I think that is why Suited for Change has been so successful, because a lot of women feel that personal pull to it."

She is also a fan of the Personal and Professional Development program. "It's great," says Dingell. "It's taking Suited for Change to a much more professional level. It has become a more professional organization and it's doing more for women who are entering the workplace. ... It's helping more and more people and it's the right direction."

Still, she warns, "Suited has to be careful not to stretch beyond what its objectives are. ... I think too many nonprofits try to expand. And then we get too many groups doing the same thing."

Dingell remains involved with Suited for Change because of her personal commitment to pay back a debt she owes to the women who came before her. "I am where I am because of the women who went before me and women who have done different things to help me be a success. I have an obligation to other women to do the same. Suited for Change is just one example of something that I can do to help other women."

Suited for Change thanks Kathleen Currie, a Washington, D.C. freelance writer for writing the profiles and Dara Walsh, a freelance Washington, D.C. photographer, for photographing some of the profilees.

Suited for Change © 2006 . All rights reserved.