Op-Ed: We need to invest more in college visits, career-connected learning, mentorship and partnerships between schools and local industries to better support our young people. \n<\/p>\n
In Brooklyn, brilliance is everywhere, but opportunity is not. It\u2019s in the student who stays after class to ask deeper questions. The one balancing school with family responsibilities and still showing up ready to learn. The one with big ideas\u2014but limited exposure to what\u2019s possible beyond their immediate surroundings.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s often missing isn\u2019t talent. It\u2019s access.<\/p>\n
Nationally, first-generation college students<\/a> account for roughly one-third of undergraduates, yet they continue to face significant barriers to enrollment, persistence, and degree completion. Those barriers are often compounded by income, geography, and access to social capital.<\/p>\n Brooklyn reflects this reality. Nearly one in five Brooklyn residents (19.2%) live below the federal poverty line, according to recent Census data<\/a>\u2014well above the statewide poverty rate. And among Brooklyn children, the challenge is even more pronounced, with child poverty rates remaining significantly elevated<\/a>, according to NYU Furman Center data.<\/p>\n These disparities shape everything from housing stability to access to enrichment, mentorship, and college preparation.<\/p>\n The effects are visible in educational outcomes, too. Only 37.5% of Brooklyn adults age 25 and older hold a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher, according to U.S. Census data<\/a>\u2014highlighting how access to higher education remains uneven and often generational. For many young people, where they grow up continues to shape what opportunities they can access.<\/p>\n Students in under-resourced communities often have fewer connections to mentors, college counselors, professional networks, and career exposure opportunities that can help transform potential into achievement.<\/p>\n We see the impact of access every day through our work with students and families. Since its inception, the Shawn Carter Foundation<\/a> has awarded more than 2,700 scholarships to students across the country, helping young people overcome financial barriers to higher education.<\/p>\n Today, 71% of SCF scholars identify as first-generation college students, 83% come from single-parent households, and 64% come from households earning $40,000 or less annually. These numbers don\u2019t speak to a lack of talent\u2014they speak to the barriers too many students must overcome simply to access opportunity.<\/p>\n Across Brooklyn and communities like it, young people demonstrate extraordinary potential every day. Yet too many lack consistent access to the resources, networks, and opportunities that help translate that potential into long-term success.<\/p>\n While we often talk about closing achievement gaps, the more urgent issue is closing the access gap\u2014one that shapes outcomes long before a student applies to college or enters the workforce.<\/p>\n As a Brooklyn native and as a founding board member of the Shawn Carter Foundation, we have seen this reality from complementary perspectives\u2014one in the classroom and one through more than two decades of expanding educational opportunity. We see students who are curious, driven, and capable, yet many have limited exposure to career pathways, professional networks, and even college environments.<\/p>\n Without that visibility, it becomes harder to imagine what\u2019s possible\u2014let alone pursue it.<\/p>\n We’ve seen what can happen when access meets potential. For James, an educator at Achievement First Bushwick Middle School, that experience is deeply personal. Through scholarships, mentorship, and college readiness support from the Shawn Carter Foundation, he was able to navigate spaces that once felt out of reach. Just as importantly, he gained the confidence to see himself in those spaces\u2014and to belong and lead there. His experience is one example of a larger truth: access doesn’t create talent\u2014it unlocks it.<\/p>\n In New York City, the broader structural challenges remain. Students in under-resourced neighborhoods often attend schools with fewer college counselors, limited career exposure programs, and less access to internships or enrichment opportunities.<\/p>\n According to New York City Department of Education data<\/a>, college readiness rates continue to vary significantly across school districts\u2014underscoring how geography still shapes opportunity.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why closing the access gap requires more than isolated programs. It demands a coordinated, community-led approach.<\/p>\n In Brooklyn, that means investing in early and consistent exposure\u2014college visits, career-connected learning, mentorship, and partnerships between schools and local industries. It means expanding career and technical education pathways that align with today\u2019s workforce. And it means ensuring that students aren\u2019t left to navigate these systems alone.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen what happens when this ecosystem works: Students who once questioned whether college was an option go on to earn degrees.<\/p>\n Young people without professional networks build careers across industries.<\/p>\n This is how generational change happens. Not by questioning whether young people have potential, but by ensuring they have access to prove it.<\/p>\n Imagine a city where every student\u2014regardless of zip code\u2014has access to mentorship, internships, and clear pathways to college and careers. Where exposure is not accidental, but embedded into the educational experience. Where potential is not left unrealized simply because opportunity never arrived. Our young people need access.<\/p>\n Because when access expands, potential follows.<\/p>\n And when potential is fully realized, entire communities rise with it.<\/p>\n James Means is a Brooklyn native, educator at Achievement First Bushwick Middle School<\/a>, and alumnus of the Shawn Carter Foundation<\/a>. His work focuses on expanding access to opportunity for students in historically under-resourced communities.<\/p>\n