‘Helping them get back on their feet’: Local nonprofit suits up teens & young men for job interviews

BOSTON — If you don’t have a nice suit to wear, it can be hard to get ready for a big job interview. One local nonprofit is providing teens and men free professional attire to impress and possibly even land that job. “Suits and Smiles” is helping hundreds of men in the Boston area giving many a second chance at life.

Sometimes it’s harder to tell who has the bigger smile: Catherine Pisacane or the men she suits up. And even though it might not be a brand new suit — it’s a fresh start for many teens and men looking to break into the workforce — thanks to Suits and Smiles.

“When people come to our program, they get one full outfit to wear for an interview,” said Catherine Pisacane, Founder and Director of Project Smile. “So it’s either suit or dress pants and a blazer, a dress shirt, tie, shoes, belt, everything they need to make a positive, great first impression when they come in.”

The Boston Housing Authority and Metro Boston Alive provided Catherine a space to fill with racks of donated clothing. Since she started Suits and Smiles in March of 2020, she has outfitted 925 men — with the vast majority of them now working.

“We work with so many returning citizens, and helping them get back on their feet,” said Pisacane.

Suits and Smiles mainly gets referrals from social service agencies like job training, recovery, and reentry programs — and that’s how Catherine met Joe Bebo.

“I still keep this one and pull it out on special occasions because it means something to me,” said Bebo, who received help through the nonprofit.

Joe spent 18 years behind bars. While incarcerated he says he worked to turn his life around, earning a college degree through Boston University. But he says it was hard to keep that momentum going after his release.

“Transportation is an issue,” said Bebo. “Money is an issue. So things like Suits and Smiles, even though it’s a small thing, when you’re first coming home trying to rebuild a life. It’s a very vital thing.”

And it was this suit — that helped him hit the ground running.

“I went on many interviews, some of them two and three times,” said Bebo. “For most of it, my, my record was a stumbling block. But the suit helped to give me confidence, you know, it was like my putting my armor on.”

Joe now works at the Center for Teen Empowerment as their reentry outreach specialist, helping young men turn their lives around. Joe brings them back here —coming full circle.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities that I’ve been given in the second chance out here in the real world to be able to help other people,” said Bebo. “And so I try to live out that gratitude.”

From the volunteers to the donations, Catherine says the contributions she enjoys most are the messages from the clients she helped.

“You don’t know what this means to me, thank you so much,” said Pisacane. “And yeah, so those are the moments that really make it all the trouble with the fundraising stuff. It makes it so worthwhile.”

Catherine hopes to expand Suits and Smiles in a few ways. She would love to be able to provide haircuts for the men. She would also like to branch out to different cities—like Lowell and Worcester because there’s a great need for her services out there as well. If you’d like to donate gently used suits, shirts, shoes, and belts, click here.

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