This Startup Teaches Domestic Violence Survivors To Be Entrepreneurs

"There are a lot of reasons why domestic violence victims find it difficult to leave their abusive partners.  Financial concerns are often one of the largest.  The abusive partner may prevent the other person from working, or may control their wages and bank accounts or credit cards, so survivors of domestic violence often need to start over financially.

“For a lot of victims, they leave with almost nothing,” says Carolann Peterson, PhD, who teaches courses on domestic violence as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. “Many times they don’t have any control of the funds within an abusive household.”

To help survivors support themselves (and often their children), domestic violence organization FreeFrom provides entrepreneurship training to survivors. The pilot program launched in May in Los Angeles and in June in Oakland and San Francisco with the first cohort of 30 women (80% of whom are mothers)..."

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