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Schools are increasingly engaging in career-connected learning to increase career exposure and skill development. But focusing on skills alone will fall short, particularly if schools hope to address long-standing opportunity gaps. Awareness of possible careers and access to jobs depends not only on learning and achievement, but on personal and professional relationships that serve as gateways to career opportunities. Opportunity sits at the intersection of students' human capital--what they know and can do--and their social capital--who they know and can depend on for support and access. To launch a career, students need more than skills--they also need people willing to take a bet on their potential. With the aim of helping leaders implement effective, equitable strategies for building students' social capital, this report offers field-tested considerations for piloting social capital building within existing career pathways initiatives. The observations draw from an 18-month pilot during which the authors leveraged their social capital playbook to provide direct support to a group of three intermediary organizations--Education Strategy Group, Generation Schools Network, and Hawai'i P-20--collectively supporting 20 sites in the K-12 career pathways space. In the course of the pilot, the authors sought to understand how schools and nonprofits can make social capital building an explicit, effective, and equitable component of existing career-connected learning models.

Efforts to invest in students' networks--either to bolster support or expand professional opportunities--should start with a deep understanding of and appreciation for the networks of which they are already members. Recognizing and respecting students' inherent resources and cultural wealth is what this report refers to as an asset-based approach. Luckily, a host of innovative organizations focused on more equitably building and maintaining students' social capital are doing just that. This report describes the profound potential of these organizations' approaches to mapping and mobilizing students' existing social networks, and details emerging strategies and tools that schools should consider. To surface these examples, the authors interviewed and convened program leaders from a variety of schools, nonprofits, and social enterprises. These leaders have all endeavored to help students map out, reflect on, and mobilize their existing networks in some form or fashion. Because deficit-based approaches may be more common among institutions serving low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color, the majority of the programs interviewed explicitly focus on serving students from these backgrounds, with strategies attuned to their students' racial and cultural identities. This paper explores the research behind relationship mapping and the basic tenets of building a relationship map. To illustrate how and when schools can use relationship mapping to serve a variety of short- and long-term goals, it highlights examples of current programs. Finally, it offers recommendations for furthering the vision and unlocking the potential of relationship mapping.