The mission of Braven is to empower 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.
Through their partnerships with Braven, innovative higher education institutions provide students with complementary career support woven into their academic careers – helping them find and earn internships and research assistantships, understand the unwritten rules of the job search, and open professional networks that are too often closed. Together, we’re working to ensure that all students graduate on a clear path to social mobility and the life and career of their dreams.
On-time graduation rate of Fellows
UPLIFT IN STRONG JOB ATTAINMENT FOR BRAVEN GRADS COMPARED WITH PEERS NATIONALLY
MEAN SALARY OF EMPLOYED 2024 GRADUATES COMPARED WITH RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATES AGED 23-24
employer partners across industries
Employer partnerships offer development, community engagement, and entry-level talent for employers, while building networks opening up access to internship and job opportunities for Fellows.
VOLUNTEER HOURS ANNUALLY FOR FELLOWS
01
Since 2013, our collaboration with SJSU has been opening doors to the American promise.
SJSU Fellows & Alumni to date
Years of partnership
FELLOW SIX-YEAR GRADUATION RATE
3 This is compared to an overall starting salary for 2021 graduates from 4-year schools of $41,500.
“SJSU has always valued our partnership with Braven. As Braven’s first partner, we have always been aligned in our passion for student success and the upward social mobility of our students. Braven not only shares this passion but provides programming for our students that generates real success. The quantitative metrics are undeniable. The students who go through the Braven program at SJSU also demonstrate a very important qualitative change as well. They become part of a wider community as they also learn how to navigate the ‘hidden curriculum’ of higher education and the world of work. We are excited to continue our efforts together.”
Vincent J. Del Casino Jr.
Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs
San Jose State University
Braven is a national nonprofit that exists to support undergraduates by partnering with bachelor-granting institutions to offer the Braven Leadership & Career Accelerator course and and post-course experience. Braven’s goal is to empower students with the skills, networks, experiences, and confidence necessary to land a strong job or graduate school that will lead them to meaningful careers and lives of impact.
In partnership with higher education and their career services teams, Braven offers students career preparation, leadership development, personalized advising, a supportive community, and an expanded professional network.
The Braven experience is offered as a two-part experience that begins with a credit-bearing college course followed by an optional post-course experience that lasts through graduation.
As a flipped classroom model, 80% of the course sits in the online curriculum that students complete independently and 20% of it is an experience facilitated by the Leadership Coaches when they bring that online curriculum to life through applied examples in Learning Labs.
We work with higher education partners and nonprofits to offer the format that’s best for their students. Some of our higher-education partners offer their class in-person on campus, while others are fully virtual. Some partners offer both options on the same campus.
Braven’s course is open to all students, and we work with each higher education partner to tailor programming to their school community’s needs. However, our passion for equity and expanding opportunity means we’re particularly focused on supporting:
While each class has a professor or instructor of record from the higher education partner, the course itself is facilitated by volunteers who are working professionals that Braven recruits, vets, trains, and observes. These facilitators are called Leadership Coaches and they are powerful mentors for Fellows and help to expand their social capital.
Over the years, in deep partnership with faculty from our schools, Braven has built and iterated upon Braven’s curriculum. Our team’s designers have deep teaching, talent and product design experience. Many of them are former teachers or self-described “talent nerds” like our founder and CEO Aimée Eubanks Davis.
Our Chief Product Officer, LaNiesha Cobbs Sanders, brings both her 15+ years in the education field plus her lived experience as someone who graduated summa cum laude from college but worked for minimum wage for a year after college because she did not have a plan.
Given the course is rigorous and time consuming, it is offered as a 3-credit course. This is critical because our students are often working, commuting, or juggling familial commitments during their studies. They need time, space, and credit within their school academic experience to focus on career readiness. The options we give them to count Braven toward their graduation, major, or other requirements helps them simultaneously work towards graduation while also investing in their future career.
Braven’s Accelerator course has now been accredited at seven colleges and universities encompassing four different accreditors: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and The Higher Learning Commission. We have designed very clear rubrics for students’ evaluation in each project and assignment and ensure that students see those rubrics so that they know exactly what to do to achieve an A on a given assignment.
Students who are enrolled full-time do not have to pay extra for the Braven course given that this course is included in their full-time credit fees.
