NYC IMPACT REPORT
We are proving what’s possible when you empower the next generation of leaders with the skills, networks, experiences and confidence necessary to launch a strong career after college.
WHAT DOES THIS REPORT COVER?
We are sitting at a historic crossroads as a country. Recent events, including the vicious killings of Black Americans by police officers and the COVID-19 pandemic, have brought to light the inequities that have existed in our country since our founding.
At Braven, we ask five core questions to assess our impact:
1. Are Braven Fellows getting strong first jobs that put them on the path to the American Dream?
2. Are we impacting more students and maintaining program quality?
3. Is Braven supporting Fellows on the path to college completion and internships?
4. Are Braven Fellows developing the soft skills and networks needed for success?
5. Are we building employer and university partnerships with true shared value?
As we answer these questions, we have taken this new reality into account, as well
as opportunities and best practices for the times ahead.
of Purpose Portraits (Fall ‘17 Fellow)
Social Media Manager, Project Alpaca
THE PROBLEM
Before COVID-19, only 25% of about 1.2 million low-income or first-generation college students who enrolled each year graduated and secured a strong first job or entered graduate school.* That’s almost one million students every single year who weren’t on the path to the American Dream. With the pandemic, this gap will only widen.
* Composite statistics based on national sources, including NCES, NACE, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, among others
of Purpose Portraits (Fall ‘17 Fellow)
OUR VISION
The next generation of leaders will emerge from everywhere.
OUR MISSION
Braven empowers promising college students with the skills, confidence, experiences and networks necessary to transition from college to strong first jobs, which lead to meaningful careers and lives of impact.
“I am glad that I decided to take the Braven Accelerator Course. I learned so much about networking and career development. The atmosphere and culture while taking the course set me up to always feel supported, and I loved that. I was able to network and secure a part-time role at a startup.” —Ngozi Fisher
The Braven
model
Braven empowers promising underrepresented young people—first-generation college students, students receiving Pell grants, and/or students of color—on their paths to launching successfully into the modern economy through two offerings:
Core Model & BravenX: Semester-long cohort-based course for students in either large four-year public universities for credit or for those associated with college success organizations
NEW! BRAVEN CAREER BOOSTER: Two-week intensive online and virtual program to support recent alums who are graduating into the most challenging job market of our lifetime
Job Coach, AHRC New York City
ARE BRAVEN FELLOWS GETTING
STRONG FIRST JOBS THAT PUT
THEM ON THE PATH TO THE
AMERICAN DREAM?
We’ve always defined a strong job as one that helps our Fellows build long-term wealth and health. In addition to requiring a bachelor’s degree and being full-time, we’ve looked for a combination of promotion pathways, employee benefits, and a market-competitive starting salary.
STRONG JOB ATTAINMENT
Our 640 graduates (2016-2019) are outpacing their peers nationally in strong job attainment within six months of graduation.
*National estimates based on data from NACE’s First Destination Survey, Strada & Burning Glass Technologies’ Report: The Permanent Detour
— Underemployment’s Long-Term Effects on the Careers of College Grads, and underemployment research from the NY Federal Reserve
STRONG JOB ATTAINMENT
When students are given access to information capital, the opportunity to practice, and professional networks, the American Dream is attainable within semesters.
Percentage of Braven graduates already outearning their parents in their first job out of college. By comparison, by age 30, Americans have a 50-50 shot of outearning their parents.*
*The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility since 1940
of Purpose Portraits (Fall ‘17 Fellow)
IMPACTS OF RECESSIONS
However, for our estimated 450 Fellows who graduated in 2020, COVID-19 has shifted their reality and will have short- and long-term implications.
How does a recession impact the employment outcomes of recent graduates?
CONTINGENCY PLANNING
We are teaching students contingency planning to increase their likelihood of securing a strong opportunity; for instance, broadening the kinds of opportunities they are applying to and increasing the numbers of applications they submit. We're encouraging them to consider pathway jobs - short-term alternatives to earn money and build skills and networks that will put them on a path to a career-accelerating opportunity when the economy picks up.
ARE WE IMPACTING MORE
STUDENTS AND MAINTAINING
PROGRAM QUALITY?
Media & Communications Intern, We Are All Human
BRAVEN'S GROWTH
OVER TIME
the Braven course in the
2019-2020 school year.
of Purpose Portraits (Fall ‘17 Fellow)
CUNY & NYC nonprofits
Servant Leader, Riverside Freedom School
IS BRAVEN SUPPORTING
FELLOWS ON THE PATH TO
COLLEGE COMPLETION AND
INTERNSHIPS?
of Purpose Portraits (Fall ‘17 Fellow)
COLLEGE PERSISTENCE
Nationally, only 6 in 10 young people who start college finish within 6 years.* Fellows, who typically join us during their sophomore or junior year, are persisting at inspiring rates.
Braven Fellows who are persisting
in or have graduated from college
INTERNSHIPS
For college students, internships serve as critical proof points of experience and open professional doors. Compared with peers nationally, our college graduates already in the workforce were 24 percentage points more likely to have at least one internship during college.
BEST PRACTICES FOR VIRTUAL INTERNSHIPS
Internships are being heavily impacted during this time, making it difficult for students without one to compete with their peers who are more experienced. We encourage employers to continue to provide internships, even if they are virtual.
- Communicate expectations and timelines in a weekly check-in and have the intern translate them in a shared document or project planning tool
- Make sure your interns feel empowered to reach out to you when needed
- Create onboarding goals that ensure interns have the equipment and systems they need to do their job and understand their goals and responsibilities
- Align on working styles and professional development goals
- Managers and interns can create the structures, norms, and activities that can build culture, including opportunities to develop relationships with other staff
- Build trust early on by being transparent and assuming best intentions of each other
ARE BRAVEN FELLOWS DEVELOPING
THE SOFT SKILLS AND NETWORKS
NEEDED FOR SUCCESS?
COURSE CONTENT IS TIED TO FIVE KEY PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES THAT EMPLOYERS LOOK FOR IN CANDIDATES
Fellows’ grades reflect their level of mastery of these competencies.
for NYC Braven Fellows
HOW WE HELP FELLOWS GROW THEIR
LEADERSHIP & CONFIDENCE
STORYTELLING AS LEADERSHIP
Braven’s Storytelling As Leadership (SAL) is the first major event in the Braven experience. Fellows are empowered to share their personal stories in ways that highlight their assets and core values, setting the foundation for the next 15 weeks.
HOW WE HELP FELLOWS GROW TEAMWORK AND PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS
SPRING CAPSTONE CHALLENGE
Each semester, Braven partners with an employer for our Capstone Challenge, a 6 to 7-week engagement where Fellows use design thinking to prototype and present a solution to a real-world challenge proposed by the employer partner.
CREATING COMMUNITY IN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT
Due to the pandemic, Braven will be offered virtually in the fall. Safety, routine, and interaction are the three principles that are guiding our approach to strong virtual learning. Here are some of the tactics we’re employing tied to these design principles.
ARE WE BUILDING UNIVERSITY
AND EMPLOYER PARTNERSHIPS
WITH TRUE SHARED VALUE?
of Purpose Portraits (Fall ‘17 Fellow)
UNIVERSITY & NONPROFIT PARTNERSHIPS
This spring, more than 500,000 first-generation and low-income students graduated into the most challenging labor market of our lifetime. In partnership with the following universities and college success organizations, Braven is providing support to these young people through our new Career Booster:
OUR PARTNERSHIPS WITH EMPLOYERS PROVIDE SHARED BUSINESS VALUE WHILE OPENING DOORS TO THE AMERICAN DREAM
Fellows emerge from Braven with the skills, confidence, experience and networks they need to get and thrive in a strong first job, while employer partners get top-notch learning & development, opportunities to launch students’ careers, and access to diverse talent. In the 2019-20 school year, more than 89 professionals served as Leadership Coaches, Mock Interviewers, or Professional Mentors, directly expanding our Fellows’ networks.
COACHES
MENTORS
interviewers
VOLUNTEER
HOURS
EMPLOYER PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
: SALESFORCE
- 21% of Braven Mock Interviewers were Salesforce employees
- 10 workshops for Fellows to attend during Salesforce’s Workforce Week
- $250,000 contribution provided seed funding to launch Braven’s new site at Lehman College in its first two years
“At Salesforce, we believe in a more equitable world for all. Our partnership with Braven allows us to create social change by supporting young people on their path to economic success. Our employees play an important role in the partnership too—and after volunteering with Braven, they are further invested in creating a more equitable workplace.”
THANK YOU TO
OUR SUPPORTERS
& PARTNERS!
SUPPORTERS & EMPLOYER PARTNERS
Anonymous
Carnegie Corporation of New York
The Carson Family Charitable Trust
Centerbridge
Charles Hayden Foundation
College Board
The Heckscher Foundation for Children
Here to Here
The Robert Mize & Isa White Trimble Family Foundation
Ruth Stanton Foundation
Sarah Peter
($100K+ & programmatic support)
Deloitte
Salesforce
KEYSTONE
($25K+ & programmatic support)
College Board
UBS
($5K+ & programmatic support)
IBM
WW
IMPACT
(<$5K and/or programmatic support)
AT A HISTORIC CROSSROADS
The last year has magnified the long history of systemic racism, ongoing inequity, and injustices that Black Americans live with every day. And across lines of difference, we are seeing the devastating impact of the pandemic on the health and wealth of our most vulnerable citizens.
Daily at Braven, we are fighting for equality of opportunity and economic justice. In our work, we are constantly reminded of the resilience of our Fellows who continue to overcome the challenges stacked against them. These students, and their families and communities, deserve a more just America in every way—and it’s up to us to be a part of the solution to create it.
Together we are helping to ensure our nation lives up to its foundational promise of creating equal opportunity for all. The future of our country, along with its future leaders, depends on it. Our nation's talented young people who are a remarkable source of ingenuity, hope, joy and wisdom deserve nothing less.
WORDS OF WISDOM FROM OUR NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS
