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Introduction
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.
Fellows continue to be deeply impacted by the pandemic, uncertain labor market and now, a potential recession. At Braven, we’re working towards creating a fundamentally better system that allows our nation’s talented young people the opportunity to achieve economic freedom.
This report highlights Braven’s impact through the stories of our inspiring Fellows.
ONLY 30% OF 1.3 MILLION LOW-INCOME OR FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS who enroll in college each year will graduate and secure a strong first job or enter graduate school. That’s nearly 1 million students every single year who are not on the path to greater economic mobility.
Braven empowers promising college students with the skills, confidence, experiences, and networks necessary to transition from college to strong economic opportunities, which lead to meaningful careers and lives of impact.
The next generation of leaders will emerge from everywhere.
Braven empowers promising underrepresented college students on their paths to quality economic opportunities through a semester-long, cohort-based course and a lighter-touch post-course experience that lasts through college graduation.
In our classic higher education model, students take the course for credit either in-person or virtually. Students who come through our innovation programming via college success organizations receive a financial stipend in lieu of credit.
1 NACE 2022 Jobs Outlook
2 Monster: Bring On Gen Z
3 Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor via Data Commons
NATIONAL NON–BRAVEN FELLOW STATISTICS
Inflation is at its highest rate in four decades.4 The U.S. is trying to keep a delicate balance of reducing inflation without increasing unemployment and starting a recession. New college grads are most vulnerable in a recession.5
Wage growth in the last one to two years has not kept up with inflation, meaning salaries have less buying power even if they are nominally higher.7
Recent college graduates with student loan debt and other bills are already feeling the impacts of this squeeze.
4 Why a Not-So-Hot Economy Might Be Good News, The New York Times
5 How to Explain This Weird Job Market, The Wall Street Journal
6 Consumer Price Index since 1913 through June 2022 - Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
7 Tight labor markets and wage growth in the current economy, Brookings
1 This includes jobs data for 85% of FY21 graduates from Rutgers University-Newark.
2 National benchmark estimates are based on data from NACE’s First Destination Survey, and underemployment research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
3 Since releasing the 2022 Jobs Report, we have updated our estimate for Braven graduates’ national peer benchmark from 45% to 46% to reflect a change in our methodology of estimating national peer employment rates (as sourced from National Association of Colleges and Employers’ First Destination Survey).
In 2021, 218 Braven RU-N Fellows graduated from college.1 These are the strengths of the roles they've landed. Given this group of Fellows graduated into a challenging labor market, we’re encouraged to see that more than 4 out of 5 Fellows secured quality or pathway roles.2
1 Braven FY21 Fellows include those for our core model schools: Lehman College, Rutgers University-Newark, and San José State University. Sample size of Black Fellows: 139; Latinx/o/a Fellows: 211; Asian Fellows: 171. This does not include data from Spelman College where we just launched with sophomores. National estimates are based on data from NACE’s 2019 First Destination Survey (the latest pre-pandemic class available as of September 2022) and underemployment research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
2 These numbers reflect a correction to the national estimates by race that were originally published in the 2022 Impact Report and had undercounted national quality employment rate.
The more internships students have in college, the better their chances of securing a quality post-graduate outcome.
1 Based on internship and post-graduation outcomes analysis of Braven college graduates at Lehman College, San Jose State University, and Rutgers University-Newark between FY16 and FY21.
With Braven’s help, Chris Latonnel built the foundation to get on the path to the American promise.
Fellows completed the Braven course in the 2021-2022 school year at Rutgers University-Newark
Quality experiences during college that connect students’ education with their career aspirations are critical for post-graduation success.1 Despite increases in internship hiring, disparities persist across racial and gender lines in obtaining these experiences.
To evaluate the diversity of the internship cohort more deeply, the National Association of Colleges and Employers conducted a disproportionality analysis to assess whether the proportions of the 2020-2021 intern cohort data are proportional to the enrolled, four-year college-attending student population.
NATIONAL NON–BRAVEN FELLOW STATISTICS
1 Student Outcomes Beyond Completion: National Findings From the 2021 Strada Alumni Survey
2 NACE 2021 Internship & Co-op Survey - custom disaggregated analysis performed for Braven
For college students, internships serve as critical proof points of experience that open professional doors. Compared with peers nationally, Braven Rutgers University-Newark 2021 graduates were 16 percentage points (69% vs. 53%) more likely to have at least one internship during their college experience.
Nationally, about half of the internships in the U.S. were canceled in spring 2020.1 Despite this, Black and Latinx/o/a graduates of the Braven class of 2021 outpaced their peer graduates of color in internship attainment.
1 Glassdoor: COVID-19 And The Lost College Internship
2 Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers 2021 internship data (custom cut)
2 Includes 2021 Braven graduates at Lehman College, San José State University, and Rutgers University-Newark
Nationally, about 7 in 10 of Braven Fellows’ peers graduate college on time.1 Braven Fellows at Rutgers University-Newark are persisting in college and graduating at encouraging rates.2
1 Implied 6-year graduation rate for Black, Latinx, and Asian students who persisted from freshman to sophomore year at four-year public institutions. Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2020 release of Tables 326.10, 326.30, and 306.50.
2 Includes graduation data of 246 all-time graduates at Rutgers University-Newark, exclusive of any Fellows who took Braven as a senior.
Each semester, Braven measures growth in non-cognitive factors between the start and end of the Braven Accelerator. Non-cognitive factors, which are not usually measured through traditional assessments like standardized tests, are associated with academic and lifetime success and can play large roles in explaining job search and career behaviors and outcomes.1
1 Frank, J.L. (2020). School-Based Practices for the 21st Century: Noncognitive Factors in Student Learning and Psychosocial Outcomes. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 7(1) 44–51.
Job Search Self-Efficacy: The belief that you can successfully perform the behaviors required in a job search to land a job
Career Self-Efficacy: The belief that you can successfully perform behaviors for career planning, decision-making, and progression
Networking Self-Efficacy: The belief that you can successfully develop and use social networks by acquiring and cultivating contacts
Upon completion of the Braven class, Fellows are invited to join the Professional Mentoring (PM) Program through which they receive 12 weeks of 1:1 coaching from a professional in their desired career field.
The PM Program is one of the most impactful interventions in our post-course experience: 38% of participants secured a career-accelerating opportunity during the Spring 2022 cycle.
To meet the needs of our Fellows, we have grown the PM Program by 78% from the Spring 2021 to the Spring 2022 cycle. We also strive to create better mentoring matches with each cycle.
Our collaboration with Deloitte helps open doors to the American promise.
in investments to propel students majoring in business, accounting and STEM along their educational journeys through the Braven experience, in addition to serving as lead sponsor of the Professional Mentoring Program.
Braven works in partnership with four-year institutions of higher education to build upon students’ academic pursuits with rigorous experiential learning that helps students solidify their future paths. By expanding access to a national pool of diverse professionals and employer partners, Braven complements institutions’ career resources for students.
In January 2022, Braven launched our partnership with Spelman College, our first with a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and all women’s college. All Spelman sophomores take the Braven Accelerator as part of their Sophomore Experience.
In January 2022, Braven launched our partnership with Spelman College, our first with a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and all women’s college. All Spelman sophomores take the Braven Accelerator as part of their Sophomore Experience.
Amato Foundation
Anonymous (x2)
Arbor Rising
Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
Community Foundation of New Jersey
Deloitte Foundation
John & Wendy Cozzi
Linda & Brian Sterling
New Profit, Inc.
Sarah Peter
Schultz Family Foundation
Susan & Thomas Dunn
Victoria Foundation
LEAD
Barclays
Deloitte
Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women
LinkedIn
Morgan Stanley
NBA Foundation
Prudential Financial
Salesforce
Workday
ANCHOR
JPMorgan Chase Foundation
KEYSTONE
ADP
AEA Investors
Amazon
Audible
Blackbaud
Lazard Asset Management
UBS
INNOVATION
FCBCURE
Fortune Media
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
Indeed
IQVIA
McKinsey & Company
IMPACT
Maru Group
Mondelēz International
NJPAC
Panasonic
Piper Sandler
RWJBarnabas