Impact Report
Together with our higher education and employer partners, we’re proving what’s possible when you empower the next generation of leaders with the skills, networks, confidence, and experience necessary to launch a strong career.
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Columbia Law School
What does this report cover?
Together with our dedicated partners, Braven is reigniting the promise of the American Dream.
By 2032, we aim to serve 80,000 to 100,000 students, equipping 25,000 new undergraduates each year with the career-readiness skills, networks, confidence, and experience to thrive through the Braven model.
So far we’ve helped to empower nearly 14,000 Fellows across the country and we’re just getting started. In this report, we shine a spotlight on the powerful journeys of these remarkable leaders as we explore five critical questions about Braven’s impact:
2022 FELLOW
Vietnam
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University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
Why our work matters
Only about one quarter of the 1.4 million students who are the first in their family to go to college or who have limited financial resources will graduate and secure a strong first job or enter graduate school.1
That’s about one million students every single year who aren’t on the path to the American Dream.
Mission
In collaboration with our higher education and employer partners, Braven empowers promising college students with the skills, networks, confidence, and experience 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.
The Braven Equation
In combination with students earning a four-year degree, Braven seeks to support career readiness, thereby ensuring students graduate ready to secure a strong first opportunity.
Braven refers to the sum of these four career-readiness factors as the Braven Equation.
The Braven Experience
Braven empowers promising college students on their paths toward quality economic opportunities through a semester-long, cohort-based course—developed with input from our higher education partners and faculty—and support that extends beyond the course, continuing through six months after college graduation.
In our core higher education model, students take the course for credit. Students who come through BravenX via college success organizations receive a financial stipend in lieu of credit.
Are our Fellows securing quality career outcomes that put them on the path to the American Dream?
Braven 2024 Graduates
Secured Strong Roles Post-Graduation
Of the 380 Braven Fellows who graduated from Spelman College in 2024, 83% are employed or enrolled in graduate school and 82% secured quality or pathway outcomes.2
In our core higher education model, students take the course for credit. Students who come through BravenX via college success organizations receive a financial stipend in lieu of credit.
2021 FELLOW
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Fiserv
With Spelman College and Braven’s help, Kynadi Franklin-Carter built the foundation for her path to the American Dream.
Spelman College Fellow Enrollment in Graduate School
36% of our 2024 graduates went on to graduate school within six months of graduation.
Enrollment in graduate school is one of the ways Braven defines a quality outcome.
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United States Senate
Internships Often Lead to Strong First Opportunities After College
For college students, internships serve as critical proof points of experience that open professional doors.
The influence of internships on post-graduate success is underscored by our data: Braven Fellows nationwide who have completed at least one internship in college are 18 percentage points more likely to secure a quality first opportunity than Fellows who have not (67% vs 49%).
Rise of AI Presents Opportunities and Concerns for New Graduates
AI is likely to automate tasks that are tedious and routine–those typically performed by entry-level talent.3
But in the rapid rise of AI, there is still tremendous value in a college degree.
With the advancement of AI, the human skills students practice while earning a college degree are more important than ever: problem solving, communication, collaboration, and real-world experience. Just as important is students’ AI literacy: the ability to leverage AI thoughtfully, strategically, and confidently to enhance their work and impact.
College helps early career
professionals develop:
While no one is certain of the true impact AI will have on the job market, research shows that economic opportunity will increasingly favor workers with higher levels of education and training.
According to The Future of Good Jobs report produced by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, while there will be good jobs in every educational pathway in 2031, only 15 percent will be available to workers on the high school pathway, compared to 66 percent on the bachelor’s degree pathway and 19 percent on the middle-skills pathway.7
Are we impacting more students and maintaining program quality?
~14,000 Braven Fellows Served Nationwide to Date
During the 2024-2025 school year, Braven supported 3,500+ Fellows nationwide.
2024-2025 Spelman Braven Fellow Class
679 Fellows completed the
Braven course in the 2024-2025 school year at Spelman College.
2024-2025 Spelman Braven Fellows are:
of Spelman Braven Fellows who take
the Braven Accelerator Course feel
Braven has improved their chances of
getting a job a great deal or quite a bit.
Net Promoter Score:
a widely used customer satisfaction metric on a scale of -100 to 100 that measures how likely a Fellow would recommend Braven to a friend. Above 0 is good, above 20 is favorable, and above 50 is excellent.
Top 5 Majors
Are we supporting Fellows to secure internships and complete college?
Pathways to Securing Internships for All Students
Securing an internship during college is challenging.
Common reasons students cite for not interning include prioritizing paid work over unpaid internships due to financial need and the difficulty of finding and securing an internship due to a lack of social networks, managing heavy course loads, and a lack of awareness about how to find internships.10
In 2023, approximately 8.2 million students wanted an internship, but only 3.6 million had the opportunity.8 This means only about four in ten college students secured an internship during their undergraduate experience.
Even in light of these barriers, internships remain an important means for organizations to recruit college-level talent for entry-level roles.
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) 2024 Internship & Co-op Survey, 53% of eligible interns on average were converted into full-time, entry-level hires by their employers in the 2023-2024 academic year.9
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Berkshire Hathaway Specialty
Spelman Braven Fellows Outpace Graduates Nationally in Internship Attainment
For college students, internships serve as critical proof points of experience that open professional doors. Compared with graduates nationally, Spelman Braven 2024 graduates were 37 percentage points more likely to have at least one internship during their college experience.
At Spelman, the Braven Experience
Drives Meaningful Increase in Internship Attainment
Internships are a key step toward strong career outcomes.
In the 2024-2025 school year, Spelman Braven Fellows saw a 10 percentage point uplift in internship attainment between the start and end of the Accelerator course, speaking to an important element of the immediate impact of the Braven experience.
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Breakthrough Atlanta
Investing in
Future Leaders
Started in 2024, The Sharon G. Eubanks-Pope Internship Grant awards Braven Fellows with a stipend for both full-time and part-time opportunities, bridging the financial gap for students seeking to build their career experience.
In 2025, 14 Braven Fellows were awarded the grant.
COLLEGE
Bronx Defenders Intern
COLLEGE
Mathematics Research Assistant at Swarthmore College
COLLEGE
R&B Therapeutic Services LLC Intern
NYU Resilient Lab Intern
COLLEGE
Cook County Sheriff’s
Office Intern
COLLEGE
EndocrineCo. Intern
UNIVERSITY
Accelerant Intern
STATE
UNIVERSITY
Hardy Williams Mastery
Charter School Intern
COLLEGE
Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Intern
COLLEGE
Tolbert Counsel LLC Intern
COLLEGE
University Of Miami Global Institute Intern
COLLEGE
International Rescue Committee Intern
COLLEGE
Legal Aid Division Intern
COLLEGE
Research Assistant at Rennie Harris Puremovement
2025 FELLOW
POSSE Foundation
Spelman Braven Fellows Show Encouraging Levels of College Completion
80% of Spelman students who took the Braven Accelerator as sophomores when we launched in Spring 2022 have graduated.13
Nationally, only about 7 in 10 undergraduate students at four-year private nonprofit institutions graduate within four years of enrollment.14
Are our Fellows developing the career readiness skills, networks, and confidence needed for success?
Spelman Fellow Growth in Career-Readiness Skills
The Braven experience focuses on the following six career-readiness skills: career navigation, problem-solving, teamwork, communication, organization, and leadership.
Why these career-readiness skills?
These career-readiness skills are:
In 2024-2025, Spelman Braven Fellows achieved an average Accelerator course pass rate of 98% and average final grade of 91%, showcasing strong career-readiness skill mastery.
- Reflects on strength, values, and interests
- Explores multiple career options
- Takes career actions such as making plans, creating a portfolio, and building networks
- Presents ideas clearly and purposefully
- Listens actively to understand and asks questions
- Demonstrates empathy and respect
- Leads from values
- Grounds in purpose and assets
- Learns continuously from feedback and reflection
- Works effectively towards shared goals
- Navigates differences
- Holds self and others accountable for deliverables
- Plans and prioritizes tasks
- Monitors progress and adjusts
when faced with challenges - Gets things done
- Defines the problem and identifies root causes
- Designs potential solutions
- Tests and implements solutions
Spelman Network Strength
Extensive research has illustrated the importance of networks or social capital in career navigation and success.22
Braven supports students to build professional networks consisting of strong relationships and to build the skills necessary to mobilize those networks to advance their career goals.
To measure students’ Network Strength, we leverage resources from the Search Institute. We capture a critical component of a student’s network strength.
In 2024-2025, Spelman Braven Fellows scored
a 4.36 out of 5.0 in Network Strength.
To put these results into context, on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), Braven Fellows report that by the end of the Accelerator, their networks encompass trusted strong ties and valuable weak ties that they can rely on for professional support.
2025 FELLOW
Langan
Spelman Fellows’ Growth in Confidence: Self-Efficacy Measures
Each semester, Braven measures growth in self-efficacies from the start to the end of the Braven Accelerator.
Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in their ability to succeed in various situations and is associated with academic and lifetime success. It is not typically measured through traditional assessments like standardized tests, but plays a large role in explaining job search, career search behaviors, and career outcomes.
In 2024-2025, Spelman Braven Fellows showed growth across all three self-efficacy measures.
2022 FELLOW
Columbia Law School
Are we building employer and higher education partnerships with true shared value?
Employer Spotlight:
This year, Atlassian is one of Braven’s partners investing $250,000 and providing crucial programmatic support.
Braven’s collaboration with Atlassian helps open doors to the American Dream.
Braven has 14 projects in
Jira Service Management across all departments at Braven.
Atlassian provided $75,000+ in product support, fueling Braven’s ability to scale impact.
Braven’s transition to the Atlassian suite enables our teams to:
Atlassian
“Our partnership with Braven shows what’s possible when we go all-in: our funding fuels their growth, our technology amplifies their reach, and our volunteers become champions after meeting Braven Fellows who just need that first door opened. If you believe talent is everywhere but opportunity isn’t, Braven is proving we can change that and they’re inviting all of us to be part of the solution.”
2024 FELLOW
Assistant Intern,
RED Lab
Higher Education Spotlight: San Francisco State University
In Fall 2024, Braven launched a partnership with San Francisco State University, expanding our footprint in the Bay Area to equip even more students with the skills, networks, confidence, and experience they need to launch strong first jobs.
San Francisco State University
"Partnering with Braven reflects SF State’s deep commitment to student success. Together, we’re ensuring that more of our students—many of whom are first in their families to attend college—graduate not only with a degree but also with the confidence, networks, and career readiness to thrive in the workforce."
Braven National
Faculty Council
The Braven National Faculty Council is a distinguished collective of faculty leaders from Braven’s partner institutions.
Faculty have deeply informed our model from the start. This past year we formalized their engagement through our Inaugural Faculty Council. These trailblazers serve as strategic advisors in shaping the evolution of our curriculum. They’ve discussed topics ranging from Braven’s approach to generative AI in the curriculum to strengthening alignment between the Capstone Challenge and AAC&U’s high-impact practices.
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Professor,
Northern Illinois University
Assistant Teaching Professor
Africana Studies and Political Science Internship and Study Abroad Director,
Rutgers University-Newark
Associate Director of Field Education & Teaching Instructor,
Rutgers University-Newark
Associate Professor,
Sociology and Criminal Justice; Interim Assistant Dean of the College of Humanities, Education & Social Sciences,
Delaware State University
Director for Liberal, Integrated & Leadership Studies,
Delaware State University
Professor of Rhetoric & Writing and Director of First-Year Writing,
San José State University
We couldn’t do it without you!
Higher Education Partners & Employer Partners
Chicago State University (BravenX)
The City College of New York
Delaware State University
National Louis University
Northern Illinois University
Rutgers University - Newark
San Francisco State University (launched Fall 2024)
San José State University
Spelman College
5 Strong Scholars Foundation
Achieve Atlanta
Arkansas Commitment
Ascend Public Schools
Associated Colleges of Illinois
Augustana College
Breakthrough Kent Denver
Carmen Schools of Science & Technology
Chicago Scholars
Chicago State University
City Year Chicago
Coney Island Prep Public Schools
Cooperman College Scholars
Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas
Cristo Rey Network
DREAM Charter School
DSST Public Schools
Evanston Scholars
Excel Academy Charter School
Excellence Community Schools
Freedom Preparatory Academy Charter Schools
IDEA Public Schools
Judson University
KIPP Metro Atlanta
KIPP Forward
KIPP NJ
Lehman College
LISA Academy
National Association for Urban Debate Leagues
Newark Youth Career Pathways Program
North Central College
Noble Schools
Rivet School
SEEDS
The Academy Charter School
The Wight Foundation
Uncommon Schools
Uplift Education
UtmostU
Adobe
Apollo Opportunity Foundation
Atlassian
Barclays
Blackstone Charitable Foundation
Capital One
Deloitte
JPMorgan Chase Foundation
LinkedIn
Morgan Stanley
NBA Foundation
Prudential Financial
Allstate
Brooks Brothers & The Golden Fleece Foundation
Cognizant US Foundation
Salesforce
San Jose Sharks Foundation
The College Board
UBS
KEYSTONE
($25K+ and programmatic support)
Audible
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance
Blackbaud
BlackRock
CBRE
CIBC Bank USA
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
CME Group Foundation
Cornerstone Research
NerdWallet
Northern Trust
nvp
Panasonic North America
Pathward N. A.
PwC
Silver Lake
Taco Bell Foundation
United Airlines
Wells Fargo
Devil’s Youth Foundation
Hall Capital Partners
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
J&L Companies
M&T Bank
Neuberger Berman
Rakuten International
WSFS Bank
1Huddle
AEA Investors
Amazon
Cadent
Catalina
Chicago Sky Foundation
Choose New Jersey
Cisco
Cramer-Krasselt
Enkey.ai
Exelixis
GEM Realty Capital
Google
Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment
Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley
IQVIA
Jacobs Levy Equity Management
McKinsey & Company
McMaster-Carr
Medline
Metro Atlanta Chamber
Micron
National Coalition of 100 Black Women
NetApp
PagerDuty
Philadelphia 76ers
Southern New Hampshire University
Staffmark
Student Leadership Network
Summit Trail Advisors
Sutter Health
Synchrony
Texas Instruments
Unacast
Vanguard
Visa
Workday
Philanthropic Supporters ($10k+)
Atlanta Foundation
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
Cynthia Bowman
Deloitte Foundation
LuLuMa Foundation
New Profit, Inc.
Prosper Road Foundation
Susan Grant
The Molly Blank Fund of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Endnotes
- Statistics are drawn from data provided by the National Center for Education Statistics, including figures from its Digest of Education Statistics (January 2024 table) and a report on Pell Grant recipients (February 2018). Further data is from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s “Transfer and Progress” report (February 2024) and the IPEDS Trend Generator (data as of Winter 2020–21).
- We have jobs data for 97% of the Braven Class of 2024.
- Thompson, Derek. “The Job Market Is Worse Than It Looks—Especially for Young People.” The Atlantic, 18 Apr. 2025, https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/04/job-market-youth/682641/.
- McKendrick, John and Andrew Thurai. “AI Isn’t Ready to Make Unsupervised Decisions.” Harvard Business Review, 16 Sept. 2022, hbr.org/2022/09/ai-isnt-ready…supervised-decisions.
- Wilson, H. James, and Kenji Baheux. “The Skills Your Employees Need to Work Effectively with AI.” Harvard Business Review, 13 Nov. 2023, https://hbr.org/2023/11/the-skills-your-employees-need-to-work-effectively-with-ai. Accessed 19 May 2025.
- Caddy, Becca. “How Does ChatGPT Know So Much about Everything? Here’s Where AI Gets Its Knowledge from.” TechRadar, 7 June 2025, www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/how-does-chatgpt-know-so-much-about-everything-heres-where-ai-gets-its-knowledge-from.
- Strohl, Jeff, et al. The Future of Good Jobs: Projections through 2031. Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 2024, https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/goodjobsprojections2031/.
- Williams, Candace, et al. Expanding Internships: Harnessing Employer Insights to Boost Opportunity and Enhance Learning. Business-Higher Education Forum, 2024. https://www.bhef.com/publications/expanding-internships-harnessing-employer-insights-to-boost-opportunity-and-enhance.
- Marken, Stephanie, and Tyisha Curtis. “Four in 10 College Students Have Had Internship Experience.” Gallup, 2023, https://www.gallup.com/education/509468/four-college-students-internship-experience.aspx.
- Marken & Curtis, 2023; Strada, 2024.
- Jackson, Johnny. “Intern Hiring Is Stable for 2024: NACE Survey.” The EduLedger. 25 Apr. 2024, https://www.theeduledger.com/students/article/15669496/intern-hiring-is-stable-for-2024-nace-survey.
- Strada Education Foundation. “From College to Career: Students’ Internship Expectations and Experiences.” Strada Education Foundation, 17 May 2023.
- The graduation rate is calculated for Spelman Braven Fellows who took the course as a sophomore in Spring 2022 and graduated by Spring 2024.
- National comparison is the implied four-year graduation rate for students who were full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students at four-year private nonprofit institutions, after accounting for those who persisted from freshman to sophomore year. Sources for data: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2023 release of Tables 326.10, 326.30, and 306.50; Pitcher, McCall, and Parson, Kelle. “More to the Retention Story: Exploring Second- to Third-Year Retention at 4-Year Colleges and Universities.” American Institutes for Research. July 2023.
- National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). (2022). Career Readiness: Development and Validation of NACE Career Readiness Competencies.
- Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2009). Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE). Author. https://www.aacu.org/initiatives/value.
- Finley, A.P. (2023) The Career-Ready Graduate: What Employers Say About the Difference College Makes. AAC&U. https://dgmg81phhvh63.cloudfront.net/content/user-photos/Research/PDFs/AACU-2023-Employer-Report.pdf.
- NACE. (November 2023). Job Outlook 2024. https://www.naceweb.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2023/publication/research-report/2024-nace-job-outlook.pdf.
- Joseph B. Fuller, Kerry McKittrick, et al. (Fall 2023). Unlocking Economic Prosperity: Career Navigation in a Time of Rapid Change. Published by the Harvard Kennedy School.
- Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, Workplace Basics: The Competencies Employers Want, 2020. (cited above as: Carnevale, Fasules, and Campbell, 2020). https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/competencies/.
- Rios, J.A., Ling, G., Pugh, R., Becker, D., & Bacall, A. (2020) Identifying Critical 21st-Century Skills for Workplace Success: A Content Analysis of Job Advertisements. Educational Researcher. 49(2) 80-89. https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/epub/10.3102/0013189X19890600.
- Fuller, 2023; Scales et al., 2020.
