Career Bridge
Company description
Career Bridge is a Work-Based Learning Management System that connects students, educators, and businesses to build, run, and track experiential learning programs — internships, mentorships, and student-led projects — in one platform rather than through scattered spreadsheets and cold outreach. The system includes built-in pre- and post-program assessments (21CTL) to measure student progress and program effectiveness, and lets businesses bookmark standout students and fast-track them into interview processes directly through the platform. The company, patent-pending on its core system, was one of six finalists at the September 12, 2024 Startup Texas SBIR/STTR Innovation Competition Demo Day, a program run by the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) in partnership with UTRGV's Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center (ECC) and Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES).
Founder Eloy Garza built Career Bridge out of his own classroom experience as a Dual Credit Marketing Instructor and DECA advisor, where he created the first high-school student-led marketing agency in the United States — a model later recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and featured at national conferences. He holds degrees in Marketing and Advertising from Morningside University, a Master's in Integrated Marketing Communications from Georgetown University, and an Entrepreneurship Certificate from The Wharton School, and now also serves as a Marketing Lecturer at UTRGV's Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Co-founder Jason Ravitz, PhD, brings more than 25 years of educational-technology research experience, including as Director of Research at the Buck Institute for Education, a Senior Program Manager at Google focused on STEM-CS education, and a Senior Research Scientist at Digital Promise; he holds a B.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D. from Syracuse University. The two had been working together for three years by the time of their May 2024 Startup Texas application, and Garza founded the company in November 2019.
Founders: Eloy Garza (Founder & CEO) and Jason Ravitz, PhD (Co-Founder)
Program: 2024 Startup Texas SBIR/STTR Innovation Competition
Website: career-bridge.com
Facebook: facebook.com/CareerBridgeSuccess
Email: egarza@career-bridge.com