Creating Awareness to Efficiently Provide Prom Dresses Presented to Pittsburgh Public Schools District Student Support Services Department
By Emily Graham
(Each year RockScissorsPaper publishes the winners of the James Strickland Award for Writing. Named after an honored colleague and SRU Professor Emeritus, these award-winning essays have been submitted by SRU English faculty and winners have been determined by SRU English Department Faculty, the College of Liberal Arts, and Professor Strickland himself. The following essay deserves an Honorable Mention for the 2020-2021 academic year. Professor Strickland noted the following in selecting this essay as one of our finalists: “Graham made the heart-felt case that a charity, Becca’s Closet, one that provides free prom dresses to young women for whom the expense is prohibitive, deserves to have a free and permanent place to store the dresses and serve the clientele.”
Introduction
Limos, corsages, and tuxedos are the staple elements of the special night of a teenager in high school. Prom is an occasion that occurs in the Spring throughout high schools in the United States. The event began as a collegiate occasion but shifted to high schools by the 1930s. The common attire for this occasion are tuxedos for males and dresses for females. A female’s prom dress is a form of expression that displays their desired style. According to Yahoo Style’s 2017 Prom Across America survey teenagers are spending on average more than $600 on prom night. This includes the cost for a prom dress that females will flaunt during the special occasion. The survey discovered that the average spent on a prom dress in the West was $200. This number is a rough estimate of what is spent across the United States on a prom dress for one night, but this price tag is very difficult for many families to meet.
A large majority of families live in poverty within the city limits of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and struggle with finding the money to send their teenager to prom with an expensive dress. However, Becca’s Closet operates a chapter in the city of Pittsburgh to aid this need. Becca’s Closet is a nonprofit organization that donates free prom dresses to high school girls around the United States in honor of their founder, Rebecca Kirtman. Becca was a sixteen year old cheerleader, honor student, and young woman when she passed away in a tragic automobile accident. During her time in high school she launched a dress drive to provide prom dresses and accessories to high school girls who could not afford to purchase them which turned into a larger organization yearly. Now, Becca’s Closet is a nationwide organization that helps out the low income families of high school aged girls dreaming of their special prom night.
The chapter of Becca’s Closet located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania resides inside of Taylor Allderdice High School. However, the chapter does not have a designated location to keep the dresses for girls to choose from. Every year the dresses are forced to find a new home for the year because the classrooms, storage rooms, and extra areas in the high school become occupied for other reasons. Due to this issue the Pittsburgh chapter of Becca’s Closet has not been as successful as they could be because of the lack of space, lack of acknowledgment, and access to the dresses. This creates a larger issue regarding the amount of people that can benefit because Becca’s Closet has the ability to reach girls throughout the Pittsburgh area, but are limited due to the spacial problems. By providing a designated area for the dresses of the organization, low income families with high school aged girls would benefit by their child being able to obtain a prom dress they love for their special night. Designating an area in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district for Becca’s Closet dresses to be stored and for activities to take place would benefit the low income families with daughters in the Pittsburgh area.
Evaluating the Poverty Rate
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly thirteen percent of Allegheny County residents reside below the poverty line with one-third of Pittsburgh’s population living near or at the poverty level. The city of Pittsburgh is divided into different neighborhoods that are racially and economically diverse. Neighborhoods that are mostly black populated have greater poverty rates than predominantly white neighborhoods. For example, 3 out of 17 majority-black areas had a poverty rate less than twenty percent while 34 out of 50 majority-white neighborhoods experienced rates below 20% which displays the number of those in poverty is greater in majority-black neighborhoods. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the black population Poverty Rates In Pittsburgh Pennsylvania by Neighborhood (Cotter) makes up 23% of Pittsburgh’s population. Looking at the black population in Pittsburgh it can be concluded that the poverty rate is large.
Analysis of Data
This data relates to Becca’s Closet because Becca’s Closet aids those who cannot afford a prom dress which is most commonly those in poverty. Those in poverty must budget their money first towards human necessities, such as food and housing. Providing their daughter with a fancy prom dress to wear one night is not at the top of their budgeting strategy. According to the data stating the large number of families in poverty there is a large need for aid from Becca’s Closet. Becca’s Closet is located in the city limits of Pittsburgh, but has previously mainly aided girls within Taylor Allderdice High School. This is because Becca’s Closet does not have the resources necessary to reach out to girls outside of the high school it is located in. Throughout the 2019-2020 school year the individuals who ran Becca’s Closet had pursued hosting a fashion show to reach girls throughout the Pittsburgh area, but were unsuccessful because of the small area where the dresses were stored and lack of participation from advisors and students. The task was too large for a few individuals to handle and were not met with administration help because of the unawareness of the organization. This is a specific example that shows the issues that the Pittsburgh chapter of Becca’s Closet faces yearly.
Recommendations
In today’s society prom is a special event in a high schooler’s life that distinguishes the ending of high school and transitioning to college or a real job. Many people see prom as a large milestone in one’s life like graduation from high school. There are many people who do not enjoy the idea of prom because they may not enjoy school sanctioned events, but for most prom is a special night that they want to remember in the future. Due to this pressure put onto having a special prom night many individuals go all out and purchase the best of the best items for the night. These items include a limo for transportation, an expensive dress and shoes, and even paying to get their hair and makeup done by a professional. These costs can quickly add up and many families have no way of supplying the money for it. However, families normally want their child to enjoy their prom night and do what they can to provide the fancy items. Becca’s Closet is a middle ground for these families because the high schooler is able to receive a fancy prom dress and shoes while their family is able to save their money.
The best option for Becca’s Closet located in Taylor Allderdice High School is to find a location in any Pittsburgh Public School District building to reach more people in need of their services resulting in a growth of how many people they can assist. Pittsburgh Public School District is a large metropolitan school district with 54 school buildings being schools kindergarten through twelfth grade and 8 buildings being early childhood centers. This does not count administrative buildings within the district that would have additional space available. Finding a spot for Becca’s Closet to store their dresses would not be a difficult task due to the vast number of buildings that could have additional areas not being currently used. The factor that has been holding Taylor Allderdice High School’s Becca’s Closet chapter is that they do not want to move the chapter out of their school. The chapter was created in Taylor Allderdice High School and they do not believe it should be moved, but in order for the chapter to reach the maximum number of people that they can something needs to be altered. This alteration is moving the chapter to an area where it can be easily accessed by students and administration so they can conduct activities within the chapter.
Method of Implementation
The process of finding Becca’s Closet a new home in the Pittsburgh Public School District will not be a short process. The first step towards reaching the goal will be to look for an area, such as a classroom or storage room, within the district that is not currently being used and is not already claimed by a club or teacher for their use in the future. In Taylor Allderdice High School the areas that Becca’s Closet moved the dresses to wear already areas that were going to be used in the future to store items, such as books or costumes for the school musicals. Therefore, finding an area that is already claimed will be the goal. After finding an area within the district, an advisor must be found. The current advisor of the Becca’s Closet chapter will not be able to successfully run the chapter from a different building in the district, so a new advisor in the same building as the area found must be appointed. This can be done by sending out a mass email to everyone working in the building that the area is found in and asking someone to step forward to watch over the Becca’s Closet chapter. This will not be a major issue for the process of moving Becca’s Closet because many teachers and administration are willingly ready to help students and are additionally more willing if it is for a good cause.
A factor that could be an issue is that teachers and administration may already be too busy to take over an organization. After finding a new advisor the next step would be to create a student board for the chapter. This should include students who commonly go to the building that they new area for the chapter is found in and also students from other schools throughout the district. The students from the other schools in the district are extremely important because they will be the factor that spreads awareness of Becca’s Closet and raises the amount of individuals the chapter can assist. The final step would be to relocate the dresses to the new area and create a space that is comfortable. Many girls who do obtain dresses from Becca’s Closet may feel ashamed to get a dress for free and will feel uncomfortable. Making the area where individuals will browse the dresses is extremely important because the atmosphere sets the mood. If the dresses are messy and unorganized individuals may get the feeling of thrift shopping or second hand shopping, but having an area that is organized and clean gives off the feeling of shopping at a store.
Conclusion
Becca’s Closet is an organization that provides free prom dresses and shoes to girls in need. Many people do not see that Becca’s Closet is an important organization because they are not providing food to people like food banks. Food is a necessity and prom dresses are a luxury. However, individuals who receive free food from food banks or other items that are essential to surviving are living lives where they do not get luxuries. Luxuries are not required, but they are appreciated when received and can make someone feel special. Teenage high school girls who do not receive luxuries may feel inferior to their peers whose families have more money. With Becca’s Closet they are able to receive a luxury that they can proudly wear to their special prom night and not feel embarrassed or ashamed. Becca’s Closet has various styles, sizes, and colors of dresses to choose from so every individual that comes to find a dress for their special night is able to find one that matches their personality and style. Every individual should be able to enjoy their prom night without feeling embarrassed about where they got their dress from or that their family was not able to pay for an expensive prom dress to match their peers.
Works Cited
Nicholas, Elizabeth. “Prom in America, an Origin Story.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 29 July 2017, theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/prom-in-america-an-origin-story/.
Bowerman, Mary. “How Much Does It Cost to Go to Prom? The Number Is Shocking.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 25 May 2017, www.usatoday.com/story/life/nation-now/2017/05/25/prom-how-much-do-teens-spend/3 42865001/.
“Poverty in Our Region.” The Pittsburgh Foundation, pittsburghfoundation.org/poverty-in-region#:~:text=According to the U.S. Census,for a family of four.
Davis, Amy. “Becca’s Closet Issues.” Interview. 1 November 2020.
Cotter, First-person essay by Nick. “Disparities between Pittsburgh Neighborhoods Persist. This Project Tries to Understand Why. – PublicSource: News for a Better Pittsburgh.” PublicSource, 3 Feb. 2020, www.publicsource.org/disparities-between-pittsburgh-neighborhoods-persist-this-projecttries-to-understand-why/.
