A Mesa nonprofit organization aims to help struggling parents receive training and dress for success through a career center scheduled to open later this month.

Save the Family Foundation of Arizona, a family crisis center designed to help homeless families become self-sufficient, plans to open their career service center and closet to provide job training such as interview skills, résumé writing, and provide clients with appropriate attire for interviews.

The center, at 451 N. Vineyard in Mesa next door to the foundation, has a goal of promoting success in the workplace, foundation officials said.

The foundation's clientele is limited to needy families with parents striving to break the cycle of homelessness and provide better options for their children, according to the foundation.

Save the Family provides their clients assistance with obtaining jobs, but the center will create many new opportunities, said Andrea Chavez, the foundation's career development director.

"We offer the services - but one-on-one and by appointment," Chavez said. "Now that we have the space, (we can provide) workshops and job fairs." Chavez added, "We hope the community will get involved and provide more opportunities."

The center will be available to its clients on an ongoing basis, said Chavez. She said it's an improvement from the limited availability the foundation had before because of space.

Chavez said rather than just coming in to find a job, clients can continue to improve their skills and take advantage of all the center has to offer, including job skill training and a closet filled with professional attire.

Elsa Sierra, a client of Save the Family, previously worked with Chavez to build and create a résumé. "I came (to Save the Family) from a domestic violent relationship," said Sierra, a stay-at-home mother of two. "I don't have any job skills and didn't graduate from high school. She helped me get my GED."

Chavez later referred Sierra to a work force agency that offers classes beyond what Save the Family had.

Now, Sierra plans to use the career center to receive more one-on-one help in building work force skills.

"I will get more attention with Andrea (Chavez) rather than being in a class of 30," Sierra said.

The career center, which will only be available to those enrolled with Save the Family's program, will also boast the career clothing closet in which clients can choose appropriate business attire collected through donations.

Parents will be able to keep their children in a "kids room" while they are at the center.

Chavez said that conflict resolution training is offered to help increase job retention, as well.

The center was made possible by donations from the Gesner-Johnson Family Foundation and the I.A. O'Shaughnessy Foundation, which contributed more than $100,000 combined to start the program, according to the foundation.

Donations also helped supply computers and printers which clients otherwise might not have had access to, Chavez said.With a small budget to work with, the career center will be primarily operated by volunteers and funded through donations. Volunteers with professional work experience will practice interviews with the clients, help build résumés, connect clients with job opportunities, and review workplace etiquette.

"I was sold on the whole concept of giving a hand up instead of a handout," said Marcia James, a volunteer who helps clients with the interview process and designs résumés."I can provide the clients an opportunity to feel good about where they're going and putting something together that they can be proud of to hand to a potential employer," she said.

Save the Family has planned a ribbon cutting for the center July 17.