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Introduction

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Introduction

Braven with african wisdom knot logo on leftWe're 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
SPRING 2021 FELLOW
Fatyma Karamoko  Consulting Development Analyst, Accenture
Photo: Joshua Christie | Photography Portraits

What does this report cover?

What does this report cover?

SPRING 2021 FELLOW
Sangita Tamang  Assurance Associate, PwC
Photo: Darius Riley | HOUR VOYSES

At Braven, we fight for equity in opportunity and economic mobility. In our work, we are constantly reminded of the resilience of our Fellows who continue to overcome challenges on their way to career and lifetime success. In this report, we highlight their stories as we dive into two questions that assess Braven’s impact:

01

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These students, along with their families and communities, deserve a more just America in every way. As we work towards an equitable recovery, we have an opportunity to build fundamentally better systems that will allow all of our nation’s talented young people a chance at the American promise.

Why our
work matters

Only 30% of about 1.3 million low-income or first-generation college students who enroll each year will graduate and secure a strong first job or enter graduate school.1 That’s more than 900,000 students every single year who aren't on the path to the American promise.

1 Composite statistics based on national sources, including NCES, NACE, and The Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Erika's favorite quote is by John Lennon, which reads "In the end, everything will be okay. If it's not okay, then it is not the end."
SPRING 2018 FELLOW
Erika Dominguez  Consulting Analyst, Accenture
Photo: Joshua Christie | Photography Portraits

Mission

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.

Vision

The next generation of leaders will emerge from everywhere.

Monika's favorite quote by Unknown, which reads "Don’t cry over the past, it’s gone. Don’t stress about the future, it hasn’t arrived yet. Live in the present and make it beautiful."
SPRING 2019 FELLOW
Monika Dwojak  Graduate Student, DePaul University
Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux inc.

The Braven Model

Braven empowers promising underrepresented young people 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 core 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.

Are Braven Fellows getting quality economic opportunities that put them on the path to the American promise?

Digging deeper: Labor market trends and inequities over the last two years

While trends about the job market favoring candidates are making headlines, when you dig deeper into the data, you learn it’s a candidate’s market for some–and not all. Across the nation, there has been a mismatch of labor market supply and demand tied to factors including worker desires, experience, and skills, 1 which has exacerbated inequities for workers of color and women.” 2

1 Edwards, Katherine A. How to Explain This Weird Job Market. Wall Street Journal, December 2021.
2 Long, Heather & Dam, Andrew & Fowers, Alyssa and Shapiro, Leslie “The COVID-19 recession is the most unequal in modern U.S. history”. The Washington Post, September 2020.
3 Long, Heather & Fowers, Alyssa and Dam, Andrew Why America has 8.4 million unemployed when there are 10 million job openings. The Washington Post, September 2021.

4 Simons, John. Gen Z and Millennials Are Leading a ‘Great Reshuffle.’ Here’s What That Means. Time, October 2021.
5 Franck, Thomas. Here’s where the jobs are - in one chart. CNBC, October 2021
6 Molla, Rani and Stewart, Emily. Why everybody’s hiring but nobody’s getting hired. Vox, September 2021.

FALL 2020 FELLOW
Noe Ibarra  Technical Recruiting Associate, DoorDash
Photo: Darius Riley | HOUR VOYSES

Strong  job attainment

In 2021, 680 Braven Fellows graduated from college.1 This new class is outpacing their peers nationally in strong job attainment by 16 percentage points (61% vs 45%) within six months of graduation.2

six months after graduation

fellow demographics

1 We have jobs data for 84% of FY21 graduates.
2 National benchmark estimates are based on data from NACE’s First Destination Survey, underemployment research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the volume Education, Skills, and Technical Change: Implications for Future US GDP Growth from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The American
promise in Action

When students are given access to information capital and networks as well as the opportunity to practice professional skills, the American promise is attainable within semesters.

braven graduates

55%

already outearning their parents in their very first job out of college 1

By comparison, by age 30, most Americans have a 50-50 shot of outearning their parents.2

Most popular industries for Braven Fellows

Health
TECHNOLOGY
BANKING & FINANCE
EDUCATION
NON-PROFIT

1 Inclusive of all Braven graduates from FY18-FY21
2 Chetty, Raj et al. The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940. Science, December 2016.
3 Translation: Work hard and work smart, my friend. Hard and smart work brings success.

FALL 2020 FELLOW
Ezekiel Olumuyide  MD/PhD student, Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine
Photo: Joshua Christie | Photography Portraits

Building Career Wealth & Health

A high quality first job helps individuals build long-term wealth and health. Braven defines a strong first job as one that requires a bachelor’s degree and is full-time, as well as includes some combination of promotion pathways, employee benefits, and a market-competitive starting salary. 1

$56,000

MEAN SALARY OF RECENT BRAVEN GRADUATES
This is compared to a mean starting salary for 2019 graduates from public 4-year colleges of $53,339.2

1 Questions about graduates’ salary were optional on our annual 2021 Post-Accelerator Fellow Survey.
2 NACE First Destination Survey for the College Class of 2019

74%

of recent braven graduates
are in roles aligned with their long-term career interests

88%

of recent braven graduates
have a job with employer provided benefits
SPRING 2021 BRAVENX FELLOW
Latrel Crawford  Associate of Scholar Recruitment, Chicago Scholars Foundation
Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux inc.

The Braven model in action

The Braven Class of 2020 a year later: Finding its footing in a turbulent job market

We revisited the class of 2020 in 2021, and we’re proud to see Braven graduates from last year making progress in this uneven economic recovery.

OUTCOMES FOR 2020 GRADUATES IN 2021

46%

of 2020 graduates experienced some change in employment in the last year.

~33%

of graduates who had not secured a quality outcome as of 2020 are now in quality roles. A similar proportion who were in a quality role have already switched to new quality jobs.

9%

of last year’s graduates who were in a quality role as of 2020, slipped into unemployment or roles that do not meet quality criteria.

HOW WE DEFINE QUALITY ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Quality role: a full-time role that requires a bachelor’s degree and includes some combination of promotion pathways, employee benefits, and a market-competitive starting salary, or enrollment in graduate school
Pathway role: a role that does not require a bachelor’s degree but helps students’ financial sustainability, is aligned with career interests, and will likely lead to more career-accelerating possibilities through skill development
Non-quality role: a role that does not require a bachelor’s degree and offers limited runway to additional career-accelerating opportunities and/or is not aligned with students’ career interests

1 We know the updated job outcomes of 87% of the Class of 2020.

Is Braven supporting Fellows to secure internships?

Nationally, internship attainment for the class of 2021 dropped significantly compared to pre-COVID-19 classes

Quality experiences during college that connect students’ education with their career aspirations are critical for post-graduation success.1 Unfortunately, internship attainment and completion has cratered during the pandemic.2

1 Source: Student Outcomes Beyond Completion: National Findings From the 2021 Strada Alumni Survey
2 Source: NACE 2020-21 student survey administered from February 17, 2021, through May 14, 2021 and includes responses from graduating seniors (n = 2,339) from 85 four year colleges and universities. Similar NACE data from the class of 2020 is unavailable due to challenges with data collection during the height of the pandemic.

3 Similar experiences include co-ops, externships, and apprenticeships on the NACE 2020-2021 survey. The NACE 2018-19 survey asked only about internships and co-ops.

SPRING 2021 FELLOW
Chai Kadimisetty  Tech Services Intern, Braven
Photo: Joshua Christie | Photography Portraits

Encouraging levels of internship attainment for Braven Fellows

For college students, internships serve as critical proof points of experience that open professional doors. Compared with their peers nationally, our 2021 graduates were 9 percentage points more likely to have at least one internship during their college experience.

1 These insights are from Braven predictive analyses across three statistical models (logistic regressions, elastic net, and random forest) across multiple regression specifications. Data analyzed for all-time Braven Fellow graduates through the class of 2021.

Braven conducted predictive analyses that show that internships are one of the most important predictive factors for quality outcomes within six months of graduation, even more so than GPA.1 Graduates with two or more internships are 24 percentage points more likely to secure quality outcomes than students who graduated with no internships.

Is Braven supporting Fellows on the path to college completion?

College enrollment and persistence continue to decline nationwide

Fall 2021 enrollment at four-year public colleges and universities 1

College persistence at four-year public colleges and universities

College persistence has similarly declined in the last two years. Last year, college persistence at four-year public schools dropped to the lowest level since the starting cohort of 2014 and a 0.6 percentage point drop compared to the previous cohort. 2

84.1%

Encouraging levels
of on-time graduation

Nationally, about 7 in 10 of Braven Fellows’ peers graduate college on time.1 Braven Fellows are persisting 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 595 all-time Braven Fellow graduates, exclusive of any Fellows who took Braven as a senior.

FALL 2020 FELLOW
Andrej Gjorgiev  Program Manager of Workforce Development, Braven
Photo: Joshua Christie | Photography Portraits

We couldn’t do it without you

Supporters ($10K+)

A Better Chicago
Abrams Foundation
Amato Foundation
Anonymous
Arbor Brothers
Arrow Impact
Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation
Charles Ashby Lewis and Penny Bender Sebring
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Charles Hayden Foundation
Charter School Growth Fund
Cleveland Avenue Foundation for Education
College Futures Foundation
Community Foundation of New Jersey
Crown Family Philanthropies
Dani Petrie

David Cohen & Kristin Argo
ECMC Foundation
Erol Foundation
Finnegan Family Foundation
Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation
Gray Foundation
Grace & Steve Voorhis
Greg Gunn & Lisette Nieves
Invest For Kids
John & Wendy Cozzi
Kelly and Thom Mannard
Leslie Family Foundation
Linda and Brian Sterling
Mansueto Foundation
Margoes Foundation
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
MR Macgill
New Jersey Children's Foundation
New Profit, Inc.
Paula Sneed & Lawrence Bass

Paul M. Angell Foundation
Prosper Road Foundation
Rebekah Eubanks
Rick Braddock
Rick Witmer
Robert Mize and Isa White Trimble Family Foundation
Ron and Kathy Sonenthal
Sarah Peter
Schultz Family Foundation
Shellye Archambeau
Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2)
Siragusa Family Foundation
Sobrato Family Foundation
Square One Foundation
Steven Alesio
Strada Education Network
Stupski Foundation
Susan & Thomas Dunn
Tammy & Bill Crown
The 1954 Project

The Carson Family Charitable Trust
The City Fund
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation / PropelNext
The Heckscher Foundation for Children
The John P. and Anne Welsh McNulty Foundation
The Mayer and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation
The Osa Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation
Tipping Point Community
Valhalla Foundation
Victoria Foundation
Vivo Foundation

Higher Education & Employer Partners

HIGHER EDUCATION PARTNERS
Lehman College - CUNY
National Louis University
Rutgers University - Newark
San José State University
Spelman College (Launched 2022)

LEAD PARTNERS

$250K+ & programmatic support
Barclays
Capital One
Credit Suisse
Deloitte
NBA Foundation
Prudential Financial
Salesforce
Workday

ANCHOR PARTNERS
Adobe
Cisco
Cognizant US Foundation
JP Morgan Chase Foundation
LinkedIn
Morgan Stanley

KEYSTONE PARTNERS
$25K+ & programmatic support
ADP
AEA Investors
Blackbaud
Charles Schwab
CME Group Foundation
Lazard Asset Management
Northern Trust
Okta
PwC
ServiceNow
UBS
Western Digital

INNOVATION PARTNERS
$5K+ & programmatic support
Bank of the West
BMO Harris Bank
Cadent
CIBC Bank
eos Products
FCBCURE
Fortune Media
FTI Consulting
GLG
Gucci
Guggenheim Partners
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
IBM
Kirkland & Ellis
KPMG LLP
Loop Capital
Medline
NetApp
RSM
WW

IMPACT PARTNERS
<$5K and/or programmatic support
Anonymous
Audible
Cloudera Foundation
Cramer Krasselt
Google
Katie Couric Media
Mars
Maru Group
Montefiore Medical Center
Panasonic
RWJBarnabas
Schaffer & Combs
Suite 437
Tegus
The College Board
Training The Street




* There are a number of organizations we partner
with through our innovation programming that
will be recognized in our impact report.

Chicago Addendum

fall 2019 FELLOW
Estefania Sanchez  Associate Banker, JPMorgan Chase Bank
Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux inc.

Testing the Braven model with a higher-need, yet high-potential student population: Are Braven Fellows getting strong jobs that put them on the path to the American promise?

For the first time, we have more robust data for Braven graduates from National Louis University, where we’re piloting our core model with a higher-need, yet high-potential student population. From its founding, NLU has strived to expand access to higher education, especially for those who have historically encountered barriers due to geography, marginality, or economic status.

In 2021, 39 Braven Fellows graduated from National Louis University amid the economic recovery.

HOW WE DEFINE QUALITY ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Quality role: a full-time role that requires a bachelor’s degree and includes some combination of promotion pathways, employee benefits, and a market-competitive starting salary, or enrollment in graduate school
Pathway role: a role that does not require a bachelor’s degree but helps students’ financial sustainability, is aligned with career interests, and will likely lead to more career-accelerating possibilities through skill development
Non-quality role: a role that does not require a bachelor’s degree and offers limited runway to additional career-accelerating opportunities and/or is not aligned with students’ career interests

1 Braven has updated employment data on 100% of 2021 Braven graduates from National Louis University as of December 2021.

Encouraging levels of college persistence and graduation

Nationally, about 7 in 10 of Braven Fellows’ peers graduate college on time.1 Braven Fellows at National Louis University, who join us during their sophomore year, are persisting 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 data on 311 all-time Braven Fellows at National Louis University.

SPRING 2021 BRAVENX FELLOW
Latrel Crawford  Associate of Scholar Recruitment, Chicago Scholars Foundation
SPRING 2019 FELLOW
Monika Dwojak  Graduate Student, DePaul University
Photo: Joe Mazza | brave lux inc.