Local organizations partner to provide clothing assistance for job seekers

BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – A new career assistance project called the Beckley Success Closet aims to provide free professional clothing to job seekers.

The project was put together in a collaborative effort from The Dumas Psychology Collective and the law office of Robert Dunlap.

Dr. Kristi Dumas with The Dumas Psychology Collective spearheaded the project, and says they did a women in business initiative last year, but they needed to put something tangible in people’s hands to give them the help they need. 

“One of the things that we decided was that we needed to do more. There needed to be an extension. It was one thing for us to give people the information, but we really felt like we needed to hand people something that was much more tangible,” Dumas said.

Robert Dunlap of Beckley City Council Ward 3 is the co-organizer of the Beckley Success Closet. He provided the space for the closet and helped renovate it to suit the needs of the project.

According to Dunlap, they want to build it into something where people can go to find general career assistance, instead of just clothes. 

“We’ve been wanting to make this more than just a place to find clothes. We want to make it a place to come to find inspiration so that you have the ability to move to that next step career-wise,” Dunlap said.

The Beckley Success Closet will be seeking professional clothing donations on January 18, and is expected to become available to the public later in the month. The Beckley Success Closet is located at 208 Main Street in Downtown Beckley.