Braven launches at The City College of New York

The City College of New York and Braven, a national nonprofit organization helping promising college students on a path to economic mobility, partnered for a college-to-career pipeline that will serve 3,750 students over the first five years. 

“Our collaboration with Braven is an important step in our efforts to elevate student success at CCNY. Proactive advising linked directly to career preparedness and internship work is clearly where higher education is going these days,” said CCNY President Vincent Boudreau. “Braven’s work will help us ensure that our students connect the work they do on campus to powerful career trajectories, and that will help them succeed on this campus and beyond.” 

Supported, in part, by the Foundation for City College, the Braven experience begins with a 3-credit course (The Braven Leadership Accelerator), housed within the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. Students, who Braven calls Fellows, complete weekly online modules on Braven’s online platform and then apply that content through weekly virtual Learning Labs in a cohort of 5-8 peers led by a volunteer professional, called a Leadership Coach. 

In New York, Braven’s partners include Brooks Brothers, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, Montefiore Medical Center, and Salesforce. Fellows complete assignments to grow their leadership in five professional competencies: operating and managing, problem solving, working in teams, networking and communicating, and self-driven leading. 

Upon completion, Fellows receive additional opportunities to develop leadership and career-readiness skills, engage in an enduring professional network, and stay on track to securing strong internships and jobs. These optional post-course activities include engagements such as: 1) the Professional Mentor Program, which provides some students a 15-week 1:1 mentor in their desired field as they get closer to the time of the job search; 2) access to Braven’s bi-weekly jobs blast which shares internship and job opportunities; and 3) one-off professional development and networking events. 

In Spring 2023, about 250 CCNY students are expected to take the course, joining a growing network of over 4,500 Braven alumni nationwide. In a partnership with Lehman College in the Bronx since 2020, CCNY is Braven’s second site within the CUNY college system and in New York City, demonstrating the potential for creating a systemic, local solution to the college-to-career pipeline.

“We’re so proud to partner with CCNY to complement their career services and help students develop deeper networks and career-readiness skills that are required for the 21st-century workplace,” says Kilsys Payamps-Roure, executive director at Braven NYC. “As a lifelong New Yorker, I take pride in this partnership and believe it will help to close the wealth and opportunity gaps right here in our backyard. Braven partners with employers looking to expand networks for students and who want to hire diverse talent, and we are helping to establish those connections.”

Nationwide, Braven shows promising results. Braven Fellows outpace the national average for strong job attainment both before and amid the pandemic. Within six months of graduation, 61% of Braven’s 2021 graduates secured quality full-time jobs worthy of their bachelor’s degree, or enrolled in graduate school compared to 54% of all graduates and 45% of students from similar backgrounds. Furthermore, 62% of Braven college graduates have at least one internship during college compared with 55% of all college graduates and 53% of students from similar backgrounds. 

For more information about Braven, visit bebraven.org. If you’re interested in getting involved, sign up to be a founding Leadership Coach.

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 large public universities 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 City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.