User:BeBraven/sandbox

Braven is a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to empower promising, underrepresented young people—first-generation college students, students from low-income backgrounds, and students of color—with the skills, mindsets, experiences and networks necessary to transition from college to strong first jobs, which lead to meaningful careers and lives of impact. The organization’s vision is that “the next generation of leaders will emerge from everywhere and be as diverse as our future demands.”^[1]

The organization aims to accomplish this by recruiting college students from partner universities to participate in the Braven Accelerator course. Fellows complete a credit-bearing semester long course in which they build their network and gain mentorship while they develop the hard and soft skills necessary to succeed after graduation. After Fellows complete the course they become “Post Accelerator Fellows” (PAFs) with access to additional support and resources to ensure their success.

History

In 2013, Chicago native Aimée Eubanks Davis launched Braven to address the education-to-employment gap. Compelled by seeing her former 6^th grade students struggle to make the transition from college to career coupled with her personal experience of growing up in South Side, Chicago, she felt great urgency to develop a systemic, sustainable, diverse talent strategy for our nation. Drawing from nearly a decade of experience overseeing Teach For America’s human capital and diversity initiatives, Davis began to create the framework for Braven as the focus of her fellowship project as a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow for The Aspen Institute.

She garnered financial support and built a founding team to bring this vision to life. The Braven team piloted several programs in both the K-12 and higher education spaces during its first two years of operations. Given college students’ readiness to focus on career and the tremendous need for career support in this space, it became clear that Braven should focus its programming on higher education. With this strategic focus, Braven implemented its unique program in the 2015-2016 school year at San José State University and Rutgers University–Newark. In January 2018, Braven launched in Davis’ hometown of Chicago at National Louis University.

Theory of Action

Braven supports untapped students from college to career by partnering with universities and employers to offer a two-part experience that begins with a credit-bearing college course followed by a post-course experience that lasts through graduation. Fellows emerge from Braven with the skills, experiences and networks they need to land a strong first job and get on a path to economic freedom. Braven has worked with more than 1000 students to date.

The Accelerator Course: The course is a hybrid online and in-person career-acceleration experience that students take for credit during their sophomore or junior year. Fellows complete weekly online modules and assignments to develop in five professional competencies: operating and managing, problem solving, working in teams, networking and communicating, and self-driven leading. Volunteer professionals from local employers, called Leadership Coaches, facilitate the in-person time and lead teams of 5-8 Fellows through weekly Learning Labs, sharing real-world application and feedback.

The Post-Course Experience: Post-Accelerator Fellows receive additional opportunities to develop leadership and career-readiness skills, engage in an enduring professional network, and stay on track to securing strong internships and jobs through 1) 1:1 on professional mentoring delivered by professionals who Braven recruits, 2) networking events, career panels, and job skills sessions run by a campus club led by Post-Accelerator Fellows, and 3) talent matching facilitated by Braven.

Employer Partnerships: Across the entire Braven experience, partnerships with employers play a key role. For employers, these partnerships provide meaningful employee professional development experiences and offer early access to diverse talent. And, for Fellows, these partnerships help them build their professional networks and open doors to strong internships and jobs.

Impact

Braven Fellows are persisting in college and achieving exciting levels of internship and job attainment.

Persistence: 98% of our Fellows are persisting in or have graduated from college.
Internships: 79% of Braven college graduates have at least one internship during college, compared with 49% of first-generation seniors at large state universities.
Jobs: In half the time, Braven Fellows outpace the national average for strong job attainment. Within six months of graduation, 70% of Fellows secured quality full-time jobs worthy of their bachelor’s degree or enrolled in graduate school compared to 54% of all students after 12 months.

A 2017 Exploratory Study from Harvard Graduate School of Education led by Monica Higgins. Ph.D. found that Braven’s model supported positive growth in both Fellows’ social capital and non-cognitive skills tied to persistence and career success. The study found that Braven cohorts experienced statistically significant growth in the closeness of both friendship and advice networks and statistically significant growth in 5 non-cognitive skills including grit, sense of social and academic fit, growth mindset, job search self-efficacy and career self-efficacy.

Geographical Reach / University Partners:

Braven operates in the Bay Area, Newark and Chicago and has worked with more than 1000 Fellows.

National Louis University, Chicago, IL: In 2018, Braven launch at National Louis University in partnership with Undergraduate College. It has been integrated into the program as a mandatory career-acceleration opportunity for all sophomores. Students in the Pathways Program earn their Bachelor’s for $40,000 and choose one of six career pathways. The student body is 95% people of color and 85% Pell Grant eligible.

Rutgers University - Newark, Newark, NJ: Rutgers University - Newark Chancellor, Nancy Cantor, and her team have partnered with Braven since Fall 2015, and, to date, Braven has served over 280 Rutgers – Newark students. Braven Fellows receive 3 elective credits for taking the Accelerator course. In the 2016-2017 school year, 91% of Braven Fellows identified as people of color and 69% were first-generation college students.

San José State University, San José, CA: San José State University (SJSU) became Braven’s founding university partner in 2014. Together Braven and SJSU have put 574 SJSU students through the course and on the path toward graduation and career success. In 2017 Braven and SJSU signed a 5-year partnership agreement to ensure the work continues.

Employer Partnerships:

As part of Braven’s model, partnerships with employers play a key role. For employers, these partnerships provide meaningful employee professional development experiences and offer early access to diverse talent. For Braven’s Fellows, these partnerships help them build their professional networks and open doors to strong internships and jobs.

Prudential is currently an Anchor partner for Braven. Additionally, Braven has partnered with the following employers in a variety of capacity: Charles Schwab Bank, Enterprise, LinkedIn, Teach for America Bay Area, College Board, UBS, Braintree, Deloitte, Facebook/Instagram, Google, Loop Capital, Northern Trust, OneGoal, Salesforce, Yahoo!, YMCA, Zoom, Audible, Breakthrough Silicon Valley, City of San Jose Vice Mayor’s Office, KIPP New Jersey, Mesirow Financial, Rocketship, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, ThermoFisher Scientific, and Uncommon Schools.

Braven believes that it takes a village–a committed community of leaders from all sectors–to realize their vision of a diverse workforce that emerges from everywhere. Major support has be given by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Schusterman Foundation. For a full list, visit Braven’s website here.

Press & Media:

Recently, Braven has been featured in The Atlantic^[2], The New England Journal of Higher Education^[3], Essence Magazine^[4], EdSurge^[5], Forbes^[6], The Mercury News^[7], The Clayton Christensen Institute^[8], and the Stanford Social Innovation Review^[9], and Kathleen Kelly Janus’ book Social Startup Success^[10] and New York Times best-selling author, George Anders’ book You Can Do Anything^[11].