5 YEARS OF IMPACT
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.
Teaching Assistant, Braven
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.
“As a first-gen, Latino student transferring from a community college, I had little to no knowledge
of what it meant to be career ready. When I took Braven, it transformed everything! I learned how
to leverage my network, create a great resume and cover letter, and learn the skills needed to launch into the workforce. More importantly, Braven made me realize what my hustle is and gave me the tools to reach my potential.” —Bryant Gomez, Fall 2019 Fellow
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
Inside Sales Account Manager, Panasonic
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 240 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 218 Fellows who are 2020 graduates, 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?
of Purpose Portraits (Fall ‘17 Fellow)
BRAVEN'S GROWTH
OVER TIME
the Braven course in the
2019-2020 school year.
Senior Finance Associate, Prudential Financial
Participant in Johns Hopkins School of Education’s Urban Teachers Program
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 31 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.
Rutgers University-Newark 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.
Technology Analyst, AIG
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 230 professionals served as Leadership Coaches, Mock Interviewers, or Professional Mentors, directly expanding our Fellows’ networks.
COACHES
MENTORS
interviewers
VOLUNTEER
HOURS
for diversity, equity and inclusion.”
EMPLOYER PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
- Pledged 1,000+ volunteers for the Braven Career Booster
- 900 Leadership Coach volunteer hours over
the course of our partnership - Hosted multiple Braven cohorts on their campus
- Membership in the Network Gap Coalition
- Unlocking LinkedIn Learning for Fellows across the nation
- Co-led a webinar for the Braven community with Premium accounts gifted to all attendees
- $125,000 contribution allowed Braven to reach more students
- Additional COVID-relief funding and advertising grants
“LinkedIn’s vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. We partner with Braven because their program helps close the network gap and build social capital for first-generation college students.”
THANK YOU TO
OUR SUPPORTERS
& PARTNERS!
SUPPORTERS & EMPLOYER PARTNERS
Arbor Brothers
Charles and Lynn Schusterman
Family Foundation
John and Wendy Cozzi
Lisa and Joseph Amato
The MCJ Amelior Foundation
New Jersey Children Foundation
The Prudential Foundation
Sarah Peter
Steve Alesio
Strada Foundation
Susan and Tom Dunn
Victoria Foundation
($100K+ & programmatic support)
Barclays
Deloitte
Prudential Financial
Salesforce
KEYSTONE
($25K+ & programmatic support)
ADP
AEA Investors
Lazard Asset Management
The College Board
UBS
($5K+ & programmatic support)
The Chad School Foundation
Uncommon Schools
IMPACT
(<$5K and/or programmatic support)
Audible
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ
Mars
NBCUniversal
NJ LEEP
NJPAC
Panasonic
QMA
RWJBarnabas Health
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
