Braven to receive $1.5M from the Deloitte Foundation
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kasia Kalata
Braven
kasia.kalata@bebraven.org
Braven to receive $1.5M from the Deloitte Foundation
Braven, a national nonprofit organization that is helping college students on a path to economic mobility, announced a $1.5M three-year commitment from the Deloitte Foundation. This donation is one of the most significant collaborator investments made to Braven to date.
Braven empowers promising, underrepresented 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. To date, Braven has worked with 5,100 students across 5 universities (Rutgers University-Newark, San José State, Lehman College, National Louis University, and Spelman College). This year, Braven announced new collaborations with Northern Illinois University and the City College of New York.
The Deloitte Foundation investment will support nearly 2,000 students who are interested in accounting, banking and finance, business, computer engineering, consulting, information technology, and technology as they participate in the Braven Accelerator Course and continuing leadership and career development learning opportunities as Post-Accelerator Fellows. Additionally, the Deloitte Foundation will support Braven’s Professional Mentor Program, a 1:1 12-week mentorship program that helps Fellows navigate the shift from college to career, for 2,500+ students from all majors.
“The Deloitte Foundation supports students along their education and career journeys toward meaningful careers in business, accounting and STEM,” said Erin Scanlon, Deloitte Foundation president. “We are proud to support Braven, as they strive to build a more equitable society, by helping to empower the next generation of diverse leaders through industry-specific development, career readiness, skill building, and mentoring.”
In addition to the Deloitte Foundation’s financial contribution, Deloitte*, one of the industry-leading providers of audit, consulting, tax and advisory services, has shown its commitment in a number of ways. For instance, three Deloitte leaders–Roger G. Arrieux Jr. (Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP), Muna Sheikh (Managing Director, Deloitte & Touche LLP), and Ron Sonenthal (Partner, Deloitte Tax LLP)–serve on Braven’s national and regional boards. 150+ Deloitte professionals have volunteered as Leadership Coaches, Professional Mentors, and Mock Interviewers. Rounding out their support, Deloitte provided five pro-bono and skills-based volunteering projects to help Braven unlock strategic opportunities for growth.
“As a Haitian Black man in America, I am incredibly proud to sit on both Braven’s national and New York City board,” shared Roger G. Arrieux Jr., “The reality is that the unemployment rate is 40% higher for Black people with a bachelor’s degree as compared to the general population with the same level of education.1 What’s more, the median white family has almost eight times the wealth of the typical Black family in our country still today. 2 The work Braven is doing is instrumental in closing the inequality gaps in our country for Black and Latinx students and those from low-income backgrounds, and that is a cause that I am extremely passionate about.”
“We are so incredibly thankful for the Deloitte Foundation’s support to help the next generation of Braven Fellows ‘emerge from everywhere’,” said Aimée Eubanks Davis, Founder & CEO of Braven. “It is invaluable as we work to grow our impact over the next three years and help thousands of incredible students on their path to economic success and the freedom it can bring.”
* Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure.
1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2 The Black-white wealth gap left Black households more vulnerable
ABOUT BRAVEN
Founded in 2013, Braven empowers promising, underrepresented young people—first-generation college students, students from low-income backgrounds, and students of color—with the skills, confidence, experiences, and networks necessary to transition from college to strong first jobs. Braven is embedded within institutions of higher education and partners with employers to build cutting-edge career education into the undergraduate experience for low-income and first-generation college goers and provides students with a network of supporters and a sense of belonging. Braven Fellows are persisting in college and achieving exciting levels of internship and job attainment. For more information about Braven, visit bebraven.org.
ABOUT THE DELOITTE FOUNDATION
The Deloitte Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1928, supports education initiatives benefiting high school students, undergraduate, graduate students and educators that help develop future diverse business leaders and promote excellence in teaching, research, and curriculum innovation. The Foundation sponsors an array of national programs relevant to a variety of professional services, benefiting high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and educators. Learn more about the Deloitte Foundation.