We are excited to announce a new, innovative event designed to empower under-represented students to engage in higher education! The Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Initiative, in partnership with the Black United Fund, is sponsoring an Essay-writing “How-To” Event on Saturday, September 18th at Warner Pacific College from 10:00am-4:00pm. We will have professional admissions counselors teaching how-to write a great scholarship essay and multiple scholarship opportunities available!

Do you know any high school seniors or recent graduates who could benefit from an opportunity like this? We are looking for young people who are passionate about learning, eager to foster intercultural communication and relationships, willing to step out of their comfort zones, committed to serving those around them, and ready to make a difference on their campus and in the world. The event is $5 (and includes lunch, a binder filled with great writing materials, and a personal writing coach for each student!).

If you are interested in attending this event,  please RSVP to actsixoregon@gmail.com by September 9th.

Last week, as I was having coffee with a friend of PLF, Maile called to announce that her bag of waters had broken and our baby was on the way! After seven hours of labor and an emergency cesarean, Adah Lucia Sand was born into the world on May 21^st at 3:39pm. Standing in the operating room, something inside of me changed forever. Adah’s safety, health, and opportunity for success became the organizing principle for my worldview. Living in the inner city of Portland brings about certain challenges for raising a family, but when I consider our choice of being a “city family,” I am convinced that our location is strategic and ordained.

I have vowed to raise Adah in a manner that will help her be successful as a woman of God and leader. However, I am not naïve and recognize that part of the challenge of parenting comes when children become teenagers. Portland Leadership Foundation was incubated with the idea that many teenagers in the city have not received the parental guidance that they need. For that reason, we are constantly thinking through how we can affect systems in the city to help neglected children become healthy adults.

This last week, the State of Oregon announced that 53 percent of teenagers in Portland Public Schools are graduating. When considering kids of color, the graduation gap is even more stark: Asian and white students graduated in far higher rates than their black, Hispanic and Native American classmates. Districtwide, 31 percent of Hispanic students graduated in four years, half the graduation rate of white students. Students learning English in the class of 2009 were less than half as likely to graduate on time as their English-speaking peers, 27 percent to 57 percent.

Our Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Initiative is designed to proactively address these statistics by offering strategic hope to under-represented leaders in the city of Portland. We aren’t looking for students with the highest GPA’s. We are looking for students who can flourish as leaders with just the right amount of opportunity. At the end of the day, it whittles down to this—if I believe that loving Adah well will help her be successful, then the same must be true for those students who haven’t had parents loving with the same intentionality.

We are re-parenting kids. Your gifts, prayers, and participation help make that happen. Thank you.

As a student at Roosevelt High School, Oscar Betancourt knew he wanted more for his life than falling into the trap of poverty. Involved in sports and Young Life, Oscar looked to Act Six to help him expand his vision and take his leadership to the next level. One of the brightest young Latino’s this city has to offer, Oscar has dreams of becoming a doctor. After seven months of Act Six training with Portland Leadership Foundation staff, Oscar will enroll at George Fox University ready to engage the campus as an urban leader and high-achieving scholar. Having experienced the pain that results from a broken family and living in an under-represented community, Oscar knows who he wants to be. Along the way, Oscar will show what Act Six leadership is all about as he discovers his passions and uses his gifts to make a difference on campus and in the community.

National data shows that less than a third of all students from low-income families who start college ever graduate. The data is equally discouraging for students whose parents didn’t attend college and for those from most under-represented ethnic groups. But Act Six statistics tell a much different story: 93% of Act Six scholars who started the program are still enrolled. And wherever they go, Act Six scholars are leaving a legacy of distinguished leadership, service, and academic achievement on campus and in the community.

As a stakeholder in our vision, it is important that you hear the story of Oscar Betancourt. He is a remarkable young man, but he is also a metaphor. He is what success looks like for a young urban leader. It is a deep honor to love and care for Oscar as he grows. We have leveraged our entire organization on the fact that if we love Oscar well, he will come back to love the sons and daughters of Portland, through his health practice, for generations to come.

Thank you for your investment in Portland Leadership Foundation and Oscar Betancourt. We are better together.

One of my secret passions is watching re-runs of the epic television series, The West Wing. In fact, our dog is named after the main character, President Jed Bartlet. When we don’t have anything to do, Maile and I often find ourselves snuggled-up in the basement living vicariously through the wit and intellect of the President and his closest advisors. Last week, we were watching an episode where President Bartlet was running for re-election, and he made a statement in a speech that caught my heart. In reference to the importance of voting, he screamed, “Decisions are made by those who show up!” I deeply resonated with his passion and the truth of his statement.

Portland Leadership Foundation is unique as an organization because we are willing to show-up in unexpected places. One of our internal rules as an organization is that our staff should spend no more than one-third of our workweek in the office. We have learned that good things happen when you show-up, and that this principle translates in both personal interactions and organizational behavior. Your support helps unlock our ability to show-up in the lives of young scholars, fledgling non-profits, and institutions in need of our ability to help take good intentions and produce more effective outcomes.

As we look ahead to April, we are excited about the work the Lord has tasked us to lead.  First, we will be spearheading a historic commission at Warner Pacific College. Our task is to facilitate the construction of a new “urban plan” that will serve as the backbone for a new direction for the college. Our team will be comprised of fifteen of the sharpest staff and faculty on campus—and it is our honor to guide the team. Our Act Six training is on-going, and we are thrilled with the growth of our two new cadres. We will be consulting with Young Family Foundation as they build their new foundation and develop their vision for housing at-risk teenage boys. Lastly, we are continuing our development of the College/University Mentoring Collaborative, which incorporates each of the ten private liberal arts Colleges and Universities in Oregon.

Your support means more than you could possibly know. You unlock us to go out into our community and show-up with excellence. We write these letters because we want you to know that your gifts are making a difference. Thank you.