For Nataya Calloway, access to social capital is making a difference. Now a nursing student at Community College of Allegheny County, she was unaware she was building social capital in high school when she landed a summer internship at a Pittsburgh hospital.
“I didn’t even know that, at my age, we can do internships. I got paid for that as a summer job and I was also taking college classes while in high school.”
A key piece for student success beyond skill-building is access to social capital. With personal connections at its core, social capital is simply explained by Brookings as “relationships that uplift.”
Social capital can make a big difference, but measuring it is difficult. And like many things in life, the playing field isn’t level. For example, a Payscale survey of 53,000 workers shows “more than a third of all workers received some type of referral for their current job,” and the “most common type of referral (41%) was from a family member or close friend.”
As employers look to develop and diversify their workforces as advocates look to build economic mobility for low-income communities – partnerships linking these organizations are prioritizing social capital for students, especially those from underrepresented communities.
Despite being interested in the health care field as a high school student, the path forward for Calloway was murky since college affordability was a big factor. Her future started to become clearer in the 11th grade when she was introduced to the Neighborhood Learning Alliance – a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization that provides K-12 programs to students from low-income families.

‘Bridging the social capital gap’

“Students don’t get to choose the zip code where they’re born, where they live, and oftentimes you don’t have the social capital in your neighborhood. You might not be able to walk out and your next-door neighbor is a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, or just someone who’s leading construction management projects,” says Kashif Henderson, executive director of Neighborhood Learning Alliance.
He says, “We look at how you bridge the social capital gap, and that’s the important piece for students to bring the reality home to them.”
The organization serves over 500 students a year and works with both employer and education partners in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh’s tech hub and expansive hospital network.
“These are higher-end careers that you have to have access to higher-level learning opportunities to be able to enter some of these fields. And that’s what we really focus on is not just access but what kind of access are we providing students?” notes Henderson.

He says when he and his team are pursuing ideas, the trajectory of a child’s life is at the forefront, “Can this child have social mobility, economic mobility? If we help build them into that career pathway, we don’t want them just getting entry-level jobs.
“We want to know the career movement opportunities they could have so they could have that long-term change in their life and for their family in the future.”
For Calloway, now 20 years old, that opportunity means covered college tuition as well as being part of a Talent Attraction Program at the Allegheny Health Network.
She explains she will commit to work for AHN for two years post-degree with the goal of landing a full-time job as a nurse. And, she says, she currently receives other support such as gas cards and incentives for good grades.
Along with a promising career outlook, Calloway counts one of her most valuable assets as the ability to believe in herself and knowing she has a network of people to support and encourage her.
Becoming a registered nurse requires a bachelor’s degree and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects demand growing 6% from 2023-2033 with an annual mean wage $87,530 in Pennsylvania where Calloway resides.
Unlocking Confidence
Building confidence and networking are the backbone of another nonprofit called Braven with a stated mission of empowering first-generation college students, students of color, and students from low-income backgrounds.
It partners with higher education institutions focusing on supporting students to land internships and their first jobs out of college.
By the organization’s count, it’s worked with more than 10,000 students across the country and boasts that graduates of its program are more likely to complete an internship or similar career-accelerating experience during college than the national average.

“Braven helps students – in partnership with the higher institutions that we work with – really unlock their confidence and unlock their social capital. So oftentimes we know that students have a network of support, whether that’s on campus or back home, but oftentimes they may not necessarily have a really strong network of support when it comes to the professional sector that they want to go into,” says Jonathan Chaparro, executive director of innovation and head of Chicago region for Braven.

“We know that who you know matters so much when you’re applying for that internship, when you’re applying for that first job out of college. And that’s exactly why we focus so heavily on helping students with social capital,” says Chaparro.
He explains that Braven provides a course taught by professionals from different sectors where students can earn credits and get an insider’s perspective.
Social Capital Is About Building a Network
That course proved valuable to Olga Subtselnaia who started at Chicago’s National Louis University in June of 2023, building on a degree she earned in Russia. She not only didn’t have any connections, but she also was unfamiliar with American companies and how they operate.
“The culture of hiring and looking for a job is different. So, I learned what employers look for the most in the U.S. and how to be prepared for it, how to answer questions, and how to highlight yourself,” explains Subtselnaia, who graduated from NLU in December with a degree in business administration and a minor in computer science.
Subtselnaia describes the Braven course as intense but one where she learned about things like resumes, LinkedIn profiles, company culture, interviewing, and connections. She says, though, one of the most valuable things she got out of it was confidence and taking pride in her work.

“I’m not really a confident person. But with Braven, they brought me a lot of confidence in speaking,” explains Substelnaia.
The 24-year-old Braven alumnus estimates she applied online to roughly 200 companies searching for an internship with no success. When she attended a job fair and met face-to-face with employers, she landed a summer internship and credits Braven for being proactive in helping her turn it into a full-time job.
Upon graduating, she started working at a technology consulting firm working on low-code development in Microsoft products.
As she launches her career, as a Braven alum, she still has access to a mentor And that social capital, Substelnaia says, makes a difference.
“So that I don’t feel alone, and I know that if I have trouble, or I need to connect with somebody, or I need help, I don’t know some topics related to the job – I can rely on her and I can really connect. That’s a good thing,” she stresses.