Champions For Change

Finding a Gift at Suited for Change: Felicia Evans Long

Felicia Evans Long still wears the brown tweed and deep lavender pantsuits she received from Suited for Change during two bouts of unemployment in 2002 and 2003. "They are classics. They don't go out of style," she says.

Evans Long first became acquainted with Suited in 2002. She had been working for the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority in Northern Virginia for less than a year when her father became ill. She quit and returned to North Carolina, where she was born, to help care for him. When she returned to the Washington area three months later she needed to find another job.

She had worked in a social service field, so she knew where to find help. She was a Maryland resident, so she went to the career center at the Department of Social Services in Silver Spring and received a referral to a company called Maximus. Maximus offered her job readiness training – and a referral to Suited for Change. "I didn't know if Suited for Change would really cater to the size 14 crowd," she says, "but I have always been open to anything, so I went."

The Suited staff was extremely helpful and responsive to her requests for no pleats (because she didn't think they would be flattering) and no silk blouses (because she couldn't afford to have them dry cleaned). "It's such a nice service that Suited for Change offers," she says. "I didn't want to be picky, but I also wanted to be comfortable in my selection, especially since I was going to be wearing this attire to job interviews."

The new outfits – she also received shoes, nylons and several pieces of jewelry, including a pearl necklace – gave Evans Long a confidence boost. After a job search, she landed a position helping Section 8 tenants solve their problems with landlords. After only five months on the job, however, her employer experienced budget cuts, and by 2003 she was again out of a job. "By this time, I was happy to go back to Suited for Change because I knew what the program was like and all the awesome things that it offered," she says.

The second job search was much tougher, says Evans Long. "Every morning I would get up and get dressed like normal, like I had someplace to go. I would put on my suit, put on my pearl necklace, and I would hang out in the career center. It kept me sane," she says. "I was in ready mode every day. I am a firm believer in when you look good, you feel good, and I didn't want to become depressed."

Still, she says, "I was getting nervous, getting scared." During the first layoff, she had COBRA for health insurance, but during the second job search, she couldn't afford to keep her benefits. "All the money was going to rent. ...Being able to have a program like Suited for Change where you leave with shopping bags, it's just a different type of feeling." Evans Long was living on $14,000 a year in unemployment benefits. Her rent took $8,900 and she received a subsidy for her utilities, but was left with a little more than $5,000 for all other expenses.

"After every {job} interview, I would come home, spray my suit with Febreze, put it on a hanger and wait for the next job interview. That went on for almost 11 months," she says.

In 2004, Evans Long, who has a bachelor's degree in sociology, landed a job as a program assistant working on a minority affairs program funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health at the American Sociological Association. When the program's grant was cut back, she started looking for a job in the government. Today she is an administrative support technician at the National Institute of Health, National Institute Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease, where she helps scientists from all over the world with their fellowships. She married in 2006 and shortly after that began an MBA program at the University of Phoenix Online. She will receive her degree in May 2008. Looking back, she says:"Years later, newly wed ... and at the finish line of my MBA degree, I feel that when I landed a job at the National Institutes of Health in 2005, I was embarking on a journey to find my future. I owe so much of my success to the positive support I received from Suited for Change."

Evans Long would like to stay in the government, but has plans to move up the ladder. She has also returned to Suited for Change as a volunteer to help sort clothes and to share her story with others. She says that Suited fills a unique role in the Washington, DC, community. "Just knowing that it's there and available is the greatest gift that Suited for Change has given people," she says. "If you don't have professional attire in your closet, this service allows you to have that. From the clothing to the shoes, to the accessories, you can come in and walk out and go straight to an interview. It's great how a suit makes you feel that much more powerful. When you're out of work, you give up a lot of things. And you definitely don't go shopping. So, going to Suited for Change and leaving with shopping bags is just unbelievable."

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.

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