Harvard alumni Derrick Young and Jonathan Allen are fair performers at the highest levels.
Contributor Ibe Imo
Derrick Young Jr. and Jonathan L. Allen lead equitable access to advanced education and leadership opportunities through their Boston-based nonprofit venture, Leadership Brainery. She co-founded Leadership Brainery after her graduate education as one of the few African-American and gay men. Postgraduate degree program.
Young attended Harvard Business School’s Online Disruption Strategies certification program. He serves on the Membership His Chair CFAR Community Advisory Board at Harvard University and is co-founder and executive director of Leadership Brainery. Allen was his Fellow of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at Harvard Law School. He is also co-founder and director of development at Leadership Brainery. Young and Allen met during their undergraduate studies at Grambling State University in northern Louisiana. They have been together for over ten years, are married and live in Boston, Massachusetts.
problem
MSc and PhD students entering from underserved communities (communities whose socioeconomic status is below their respective state poverty line) are expected to and experience systemic failure.
Most of the funding for expanding educational opportunities for students in underserved communities is allocated to K-12 and college access. “It’s imperative for companies and foundations to support cradle-to-career, not cradle-to-college,” Young said.
Young and Allen are on a mission to raise $500,000 by December 31, 2022 to expand Leadership Brainery’s innovative technology and face-to-face programming to ease financial barriers and raise sufficient funds. Bridge the gap between wealth and opportunity in underserved communities. Target outcomes for expanding the Leadership Brainery program include:
- Increase the number of students participating in the Leadership Brainery program from 700 to 1400.
- Enhance the functionality of Leadership Brainery’s Dear Future Colleague (DFC) mobile and web applications to simplify the admissions and financial aid process and launch modules to promote responsible education funding.
- Complete a five-year strategic growth and sustainability plan.
Leadership Brains, Venture Overview
Leadership Brainery is a 501(c)(3) organization that champions equitable access to master’s and doctoral degrees and leadership opportunities in the workforce for underrepresented communities.
Leadership Brainery’s Theory of Change
The need for equitable access to graduate school
Graduate education is often seen as a luxury rather than a necessity, but the archetype seen across the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is that the fastest growing segment of the workforce is jobs requiring a graduate degree. indicates that The challenges facing underserved communities go beyond macro-systemic and historical racial issues. Hanson highlighted important student loan debt statistics in his report on his initiative Education Data.
- 40% of black graduates have student loan debt from graduate school twenty two% of white college graduates have graduate school debt.
- that’s all 50% Black student borrowers report their net worth is less than their student loan debt.
- Black and African American student borrowers are most likely to struggle financially due to student loan debt, 29% monthly payment for $350 that’s all.
“Racial and ethnic differences in student loan debt and repayments result from socioeconomic factors,” Hanson said. The impact of narrowing inequalities between black and white and Hispanic communities goes beyond short-term marketing gains and corporate social responsibility items.
Access to advanced education enables African Americans, other communities of color, LGBTQ people, and minority communities to obtain higher-paying careers, establish economic security, and reintegrate into their communities. You can invest and create intergenerational prosperity.
McKinsey & Company says that narrowing wealth inequality could add $2 trillion to $3 trillion to the U.S. economy’s annual GDP.
Leadership Brainery Solutions
U.S. meritocracy can only exist if the previous and present conditions of African Americans and other underserved communities are carefully and holistically considered. Derrick and Jonathan lead the attack using his three approaches:
- dear future colleague — An online platform and mobile application that connects prospective graduate students with mentors, graduate recruiters, work opportunities, and competitive scholarship guidance.
- Annual Graduate Summit — An annual thought leadership conference and graduate recruitment fair that mobilizes underrepresented students, professionals, admissions officers and industry leaders.
- Leadership Brainery Clubhouse — Gathering spaces for minority graduate students to access innovative programming, co-working spaces, event and conference rooms, and inclusive communities.
Impact of Leadership Brainery
“We continue to do important, life-changing work at Leadership Brainery. We look forward to a future of strong, empathetic and diverse leaders,” said Jonathan of Leadership Brainery. From inception to today, more than 5,000 diverse first-generation graduate and undergraduate students across the United States have benefited from Leadership Brainery’s innovative technology and face-to-face programming. Key outcomes of the Leadership Brainery program include:
- Onboarded over 600 users with DFC web and mobile applications. Through DFC, Leadership Brainery has successfully completed over 550 three-month mentorship relationships, providing standardized exam advice, entrance exam essay guidance, financial aid and scholarship support, network expansion, and general We provide application assistance.
- Through our partnership with Themis Bar Review, we have awarded grants to 152 undergraduates and awarded 20 Bar Preparation Scholarships.
- We have built strategic partnerships with leading universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, Boston University and Tufts University.
Financing challenges and opportunities
Leadership Brainery’s income comes primarily from donations and fundraising, with Jonathan leading the development of relationships with individual and corporate donors. Derrick says:
Derrick said diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts should be part of financial reporting and forward-looking statements, as well as branding and marketing issues. “My challenge with companies is to overinvest,” he said.
A few years ago, after the highly visible murder of George Floyd, corporations made billion-dollar commitments to racial justice initiatives. The article reported that after a year, 37 of the 50 most valuable companies had only spent $1.7 billion out of the $49.5 billion they pledged.
“It is time to ensure that our communities have the highest level of education, which will lead to the highest positions in the workforce,” said Derrick.
Ibeimo He is a feature writer and graduate student at Harvard University with a focus on journalism and digital storytelling. Ibe enjoys his outdoor activities such as kayaking and biking his trails.
