The Problem

Before the pandemic, only 30% of the 1.3 million low-income or first-generation college students who enrolled each year graduated and secured a strong first job or entered graduate school. That’s more than 900,000 students every single year who weren’t on the path to the American Dream. Now, the number of students whose dreams have been deferred is even greater.

Our Mission

The mission of Braven is to empower 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, which lead to meaningful careers and lives of impact.

A Solution Embedded Within Higher Education

By partnering with large public universities who are working to innovate, Braven:

  • Builds cutting-edge career education into the undergraduate experience for low-income and first-generation college students
  • Provides students, who often feel disconnected from campus, with a network of supporters and sense of belonging
  • Becomes a systemic solution within and across universities to fuel a generation of leaders as diverse as our future demands

Our Impact

Braven Fellows are persisting in college and achieving exciting levels of job attainment. Our community of 3300 is seeing exciting success beyond graduation, and before that, on the path to college graduation and career.

Read our SY 2021-2022 IMPACT REPORT and  JOBS REPORT.

Soft Skills

Soft skills matter mightily for academic and life success. An exploratory study from Harvard found the Braven Fellows saw statistically significant growth in 5 key soft skills:

Job search self-efficacy

Confidence in one’s ability to have a successful job search and get a job they want

Career self-efficacy

Confidence in one’s career decisions, ability to grow and improve professionally, and ability to perform well at work

Confidence in one’s career decisions, ability to grow and improve professionally, and ability to perform well at work

Grit

Ability to persevere through setbacks to achieve long-term goals

Ability to persevere through setbacks to achieve long-term goals

Sense of Social and Academic Fit

Sense of belonging on campus

Sense of belonging on campus

Growth mindset

One’s perception of whether they have the potential to change factors central to school performance

One’s perception of whether they have the potential to change factors central to school performance