Once again, in a year that brought fire and plague, the nonprofit known as Working Wardrobes is dressed up in a new get-to-work outfit; one that founder and chief executive Jerri Rosen is ready to show off.
“You’ve seen us through many, many iterations,” Rosen said. “This is the best so far.”
That “best” she’s talking about is the space now occupied by Working Wardrobes, on the refurbished ground floor of an office building in Santa Ana.
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, a group of about 70 invited guests will celebrate the nonprofit’s rise from the ashes after a devastating fire in February that destroyed its Irvine headquarters. The early morning blaze devoured work space plus a couple million dollars worth of donated “dress for success” clothing that clientele of Working Wardrobes could choose from for a job interview or new position.
Celebrating its 30th year of operation, Working Wardrobes has helped tens of thousands of people — survivors of domestic violence, veterans, disadvantaged teens, ex-convicts, older workers and others — sharpen skills, find employment or advance in the workforce.
Small wonder that after the Feb. 2 fire, when the nonprofit wasn’t sure what the future would be, help arrived immediately. First came a temporary office loaned by Goodwill of Orange County. Then came donations — lots of donations — from the broader community and other nonprofits.
Overall, the response helped Working Wardrobes back on its feet — only to have the coronavirus pandemic pull the rug out again weeks later.
As with other workplaces, the pandemic forced the Working Wardrobes staff to downsize and operate remotely by phone and Zoom. Starting in March, the nonprofit’s four resale clothing stores — entities that produce much needed revenue — temporarily closed.
But now Working Wardrobes literally has a new lease on life with its Career Success Center on East McFadden Avenue, where it relocated in July. The space is bigger and better than before, 15,000-square-feet that once housed government Occupation Safety & Health Administration workers.
Working Wardrobes spent the past few months remodeling and painting. Toyota donated office furnishings left behind when the company departed its Torrance operation for Texas. Enterprise car rental also supplied desks.
Rosen recently thought back to how Working Wardrobes began, in 1990, as a “Day of Self Esteem” for battered women. That one-off event was successful enough to create an organization that, over the past three decades, has evolved into a multi-service, employment-focused nonprofit to help people overcome the challenges of finding a new place in the workforce.
There were a lot of physical moves along the way, but Rosen said the new space is the best to date.
“It has a real good vibe,” she said. “It has a success vibe.”
‘Beyond blessed’
The area where clients can pick out a new work outfit, from earrings and ties to purses and briefcases, is twice the size as the space in the organization’s former Irvine location. A dozen changing rooms — mirrors, hooks and benches to sit on, “just like in a store,” Rosen points out — have been added in the renovation.
The 4,000-square-foot private wardrobe area is filled with racks draped with clothes and shelves lined with dress shoes. (Boot Barn provided display and storage equipment.) An ante-room includes a former shower for OSHA workers that Working Wardrobes has outfitted with a UV light to sanitize clothing before it goes back on the racks.
“We are beyond blessed with donations, good quality donations,” Rosen added. “The community really rallied.”
The floor occupied by Working Wardrobes came equipped with — no joke — 136 fire alarms. The old building in a light industrial area on Kettering Street in Irvine had neither alarms nor sprinkler system, Rosen said, adding that the extensive damage prevented investigators from determining the cause of the fire.
But Rosen is not dwelling on what happened. She is focused on what’s now and what’s to come.
The McFadden site will be home to Working Wardrobes at a cost of $26,000 a month under the terms of a three-year lease with the Rados Company, a general contracting firm that occupies a similar building across the courtyard. The second floor remains empty.
Invitees to the grand opening celebration include elected officials, representatives of corporate supporters, including Pacific Life and Edwards Lifesciences, and volunteers. The gathering in the courtyard will be followed by small-group tours — masks required.
The cost of the lease is about the same as the Irvine site, Rosen said. But Working Wardrobes has an additional three-year, $12,000 dollar a month lease for a warehouse/donation center at 17392 Daimler St., Irvine. Rosen said she anticipated the high cost of real estate when she began a property search of 15 sites after the fire.
The nonprofit employs 38 people, including staff at the new offices, clerks at the boutiques and outlet stores in Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Laguna Niguel and Tustin, and the donation center team that collects, sorts and preps the clothes and accessories. About 2,000 volunteers help out annually. Money from the Paycheck Protection Program helped offset pandemic-related layoffs.
Rosen wanted her staff to feel safe and comfortable, noting they’ve had “such a tough year.”
In the lobby, a wall display salutes donors and companies that, after the fire, came to the organization’s rescue. Hundreds of names are listed, next to donations ranging from $500 to $100,000. Across the way, another blow-up celebrates 50 Working Wardrobes clients who found new jobs in the first half of the year; there’s room to add the next 50 through the end of the year.
Karen Ladika, identified by the nameplate on the front desk as “Career Success Center Ambassador,” greeted visitors. She was all smiles about the new office.
“That’s my favorite thing,” Ladika said of the Working Wardrobes logo on the wall behind her, an emblem with two “W’s”, a clothes hanger and a heart symbol.
“It just solidifies that we’re home.”
One on one
Group workshops, employment training and other back-to-work services continue to be offered remotely because of the pandemic. But Rosen said the virtual outreach of Working Wardrobes has attracted people from out of state, including Florida, Alaska, and Hawaii, as well as from Orange County and the wider Southern California region.
Under safety protocols, in-person, one-on-one sessions can be offered at the Santa Ana site.
Army veteran John Gonzales of Santa Ana came in on a recent Friday to meet with VetNet team job developer Derek Mendes, a Marine Corps veteran. A sheet of plexiglass separated the men and both wore masks. They went over Gonzales’ new resume. He wants to work as a security officer. Working Wardrobes is going to help Gonzales, 64, with $180 he’ll need to pay for the state-required license, or “guard card.”
Gonzales spent eight years on active duty and another six in the National Guard. He underwent a kidney transplant earlier this year but said he is feeling good. He found out about Working Wardrobes during therapy in the fitness center at Goodwill of Orange County’s Tierney Center for Veteran Services in Tustin. He had worked in security before, but was baffled by the nuances of modern-day job search.
“I’m happy to be helped out,” Gonzales said of the assistance from Working Wardrobes. “I was kind of lost.”
Source: Orange County Register
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