“The richest people in the world look for and build networks; everyone else looks for work.”
– Robert Kiyosaki
Jared is a first-generation Latino college student and a BizzNEST Associate at Digital NEST. Recently, he organized engineering panels with professionals from Adobe and Joby Aviation to share advice about breaking into tech and engineering with other students like himself.
As a first-year college student, he is still building his network.
Why is this important? Jared says:
“Opportunities to connect with engineers and industry professionals completely changed how I viewed my future…. I’ve been lucky to learn from people who gave me opportunities and pushed me to grow. These conversations matter. Representation matters. Networking matters. For many students, especially Latino students, sometimes all it takes is one conversation, one connection, or one moment of inspiration to completely change the direction of their career.”
Jared is talking about social capital, the social ties that connect people to supports, resources, and networks (Coleman, 1988) that can expand access to professional networks and employment (Abbott & Reilly, 2019). Specifically, he is talking about economic connectedness, the part of social capital that most strongly predicts upward income mobility (Chetty et al., 2022). Economic connectedness represents the extent to which people are connected and interact with people from high socioeconomic groups.
Some people are born into families with connections to professional experiences and jobs, while others have to build them. For youth who are the first in their families to pursue a professional career path, these connections can level the playing field in the job search and employment process (Padulla & Pager, 2019).
Digital NEST has centers in five communities across the Central Coast and Central Valley of California where there are large populations of low-income and Latinx families and economies driven heavily by the agriculture industry. Although geographically close to Silicon Valley (~40-70 miles), national data show that these communities rank low in economic connectedness and low on economic mobility. Entry-level job seekers in these communities are excluded from the social networks required for access to wealth-building jobs.
One factor contributing to economic inequality is the failure of many educational institutions to bridge social capital: the connections to people and networks that can facilitate entry into the professional world. High schools provide unequal access to the resources that help students connect with professionals outside their community. And students at elite colleges have more opportunities to connect with companies who are less likely to see talent as existing everywhere.
Access alone is not enough; youth need the support and confidence to leverage these connections. Staff at the Digital NEST are from the community or similar backgrounds and provide support, role modeling, and mentoring to youth like Jared, what is known as bonding social capital. Staff also provide access to relationships that foster broader professional networks, as well as to information and a view of a professional future that goes beyond their immediate social network (Boat, Syvertsen, & Scales, 2021). Jared wrote about how the NEST staff provide that kind of access and inspiration in this article.
Digital NEST’s BizzNEST provides early evidence of the effectiveness of building relationships and economic connectedness alongside technical training. BizzNEST is a 1-year part-time cohort-based program in software development, digital marketing and UX/UI design for youth ages 18-24. They earn a salary while working for paying corporate clients like Adobe and OpenAI as well as with small community impact organizations like the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County and the Modesto Children’s Museum. This model integrates youth into professional communities of practice where they interact with high-income clients and mentors.
We hypothesize that these activities trigger two primary mechanisms for reducing inequality:
- Bridging capital: connections to professionals outside their immediate network
- Bonding capital: supportive relationships with peers and staff who have a shared identity
This model has shown success. Last year, 79% of the BizzNEST participants got a paid next opportunity, compared to 24% of the job-seekers in California.
What did they say helped them the most? The top three were:
- collaborating and working with a team;
- networking events with industry professionals;
- and client work.
Throughout the program, they moved from passive exposure to connections (e.g., having a LinkedIn connection) to active mobilization (the confidence and skill to leverage their connections to gain experience leading to a wealth-building job).
And, as Jared’s story shows, the impact goes beyond the small number of youth who were accepted into BizzNEST. These young adults are creating a snowball effect where they are building social capital for others by becoming relationship brokers in their community.
