The Opportunity Network (OppNet)

The Opportunity Network (oppnet) works to close The Opportunity gap for students from historically and systematically underrepresented communities. Oppnet's career fluency curriculum is The foundation of our work and consists of seven pillars designed to lead young people to holistic college and career success: 1) college access, transition, and success; 2) career awareness and exposure; 3) professional and workplace skills; 4) networks and social capital; 5) social emotional learning; 6) identity and critical consciousness; and 7) wellness and self-care.oppnet's strategy bridges college and career supports across three distinct programs:1) our founding oppnet fellows program works directly with New York city public school students from 10th grade through to their college graduation-engaging students in intensive programming, including individualized college counseling, career exposure, professional skill-building, individualized support through The college years, and five summers of paid internships or meaningful enrichment programming. On average, 94% of oppnet fellows graduate college within six years, and 89% secure career-interest aligned employment or graduate school admission within six months of college graduation. During our 2022-23 fiscal year, oppnet proudly served ~1,100 students through this program.2) oppnet's capacity-building career fluency partnerships program, launched in 2011, helps schools and youth-serving organizations integrate our college and career readiness content into their program models and help them achieve improved outcomes for their young people. Through these one- to two-year capacity-building engagements, oppnet works with each partner to identify their unique needs and desired student outcomes, co-designs a strategy to reach their goals, and trains partner staff to support their students to build essential competencies that drive academic, personal, and professional outcomes. In our 2022-23 fiscal year, oppnet worked with 75 partner institutions to impact over 251,501 students across 26 cities and 10 states.3) our Opportunity ignited program, launched in 2020, provides advisory services to companies seeking to embed values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in their businesses. In our 2022-23 fiscal year, oppnet worked with 15 companies, offering inclusive culture mapping, customized workshops, advisory services, access to live and on-demand diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings, and much more.