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The Alice Barton Scholarship Program works to empower survivors of domestic violence through education and job training. Economic abuse is a common and effective tactic batterers use to control their victims.  Financial barriers persist even after a victim successfully leaves her abuser. By enabling victims to gain new knowledge and skills, the Alice Barton Scholarship Program helps victims increase their self-confidence, find better employment and achieve economic independence.

 

The Alice Barton Scholarship Program achieves this mission through annual scholarships of $2,000 to individual survivors of domestic violence. The money may be used to pay tuition, books, and fees for classes, and a portion may be used to pay other expenses which support the survivor’s education and job training efforts, such as child care or transportation. 

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The Alice Barton Scholarship Program was founded by Roxanne Conlin, her brother Raymond Barton, and her sister Rhoda Olsen, in honor of their mother Alice Barton, a domestic violence survivor.  Roxanne Conlin is a well-known Iowa trial attorney and longtime supporter of ICADV. Raymond Barton is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Great Clips, Inc.  Rhoda Olsen is Great Clips CEO. Raymond Barton and Rhoda Olsen now live in the Minneapolis area but were raised in Des Moines. Since its inception in 2012, 300 survivors have received scholarships through the program.

 

Scholarships will ONLY be awarded to survivors who reside in Iowa or are attending an Iowa-accredited educational platform. 

 

Priority will be given to survivor applicants:

 

      a. seeking their first college degree or technical job training,

      b. whom a local domestic violence program has referred, and

      c. who have completed the Allstate Foundation Financial Literacy curriculum or another financial literacy program     
          offered at their local domestic violence program.

 

Survivors are encouraged to apply even if they do not fit the priority areas.