Braven

Year Founded: 2013

Braven’s mission is to empower first-generation college students, students of color, and those from low-income backgrounds by equipping them with skills, networks, experiences, and confidence to secure strong first jobs. In collaboration with forward-thinking higher-education partners, volunteers, and employers, Braven supports these young individuals on their journey towards meaningful careers and lives of impact.

To support historically underrepresented students attain the necessary career-readiness skills, experiences, networks, and confidence needed to launch a successful career, Braven works with higher education and employer partners to offer a two-part model. The first part begins with sophomores or transfer juniors taking a credit-bearing course called the “Accelerator,” which focuses on students developing career-readiness skills such as leadership and teamwork, helps them tackle stereotype threat to boost their confidence, encourages them to apply to career-accelerating opportunities to gain experience, and puts them in cohorts with a professional to help them strengthen their networks. In the second part, students continue to build those skills, networks, experiences, and confidence through accessing a suite of experiences to meet their unique needs. Those experiences include, but are not limited to, the Professional Mentorship Program, career communities (which offer industry-specific networks and exposure), and the Ready-to-Launch Bootcamp (a full-day, during which seniors have an opportunity to strengthen their resumes, cover letters, etc and apply to jobs). Together these experiences empower students with what’s needed for economic mobility.

As a nation, we promise our young people that if they go to college and graduate, they’ll be able to land a strong first job and achieve a lifetime of opportunity. While the bachelor’s degree is still the surest path to economic mobility, systemic racial and economic barriers have led to  the promise falling short for far too many students, especially students from humble beginnings. Braven and their innovative partners are helping to change that. Together, they empower Fellows with the skills, networks, experiences, and confidence they need to put their hard-earned degrees to work and achieve economic mobility. Their Fellows are proving what’s possible: Braven’s graduating class of 2023 outpaced their peers nationally in quality opportunity attainment by 17 percentage points (60% vs 43%) within six months of graduation.