Come to an Open House and celebrate the launching of Portland Leadership Foundation’s new Center For Communities!

The Center For Communities has been designed to serve the non-profit community with the goal of helping organizations transform good intentions to more effective outcomes. We are launching a program centered on providing professional expertise and personalized consulting to Executive Directors within the non-profit community. We would love for you to join us to imagine the possibilities for collaboration to benefit our city. Our focus is to help our city’s non-profit leaders with program capacity, fund raising development, program outcome measurement, marketing, strategic planning, and creative partnership development.

When: Thursday, March 10, 2011 from 5:00-8:30pm

Where: 809 N. Russell Portland, OR 97227

RSVP: email us at openhouse@portlandleadership.org or call (503)209-3485

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 18, 2011

NINETEEN URBAN STUDENT LEADERS EARN FULL ACT SIX SCHOLARSHIPS TO TWO OREGON COLLEGES

In the midst of a steady stream of harsh news of the deepening economic crisis, families of 19 diverse urban student leaders have fresh reason for hope and celebration this week.

The Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Initiative announces this week that 19 emerging urban leaders in the Portland Metro area will receive full-need, full-tuition scholarships to George Fox University and Warner Pacific College. Collectively, the scholarships will provide nearly $2.4 million in financial aid over four years.

The newest Act Six scholars were recognized in a community celebration in Portland on Tuesday, Jan. 11, at De la Salle North Catholic High School.  They were joined by nearly 100 school staff, donors, college representatives and family as they shared their college career goals and community change ambitions.

Launched in 2004 by the Portland Leadership Foundation (PLF) in Portland, Act Six seeks to develop urban leaders to be agents of transformation on campus and in their home communities. Since the program’s inception, five cadres of ethnically diverse and mostly first-generation, low-income Act Six scholars from the Portland metro area have enrolled at George Fox University and Warner Pacific College.

Act Six develops leaders through a simple, but powerful, four-step strategy:

• Recruit and select diverse, multicultural cadres of Oregon’s most promising emerging urban leaders.
• Train and prepare these groups of students in the year prior to college, equipping them to support each other, succeed academically, and grow as service-minded leaders and agents of transformation.
• Send and fund the teams together to select faith-based colleges in Oregon on four year, full-tuition, full-need scholarships.
• Support and inspire by providing strong campus support and ongoing leadership development to nurture these young people as they find their vocation and grow into the next generation of community leaders.

To date, 94 percent of the 50 scholars originally selected for the program are still enrolled – reflecting graduation and retention rates that far exceed national averages. “Our scholars are having a profound impact through their leadership on campus, and as they begin to graduate, we look forward to their impact in the community,” says Ben Sand, CEO of Portland Leadership Foundation. “We are proud to watch Act Six continue to grow in the Northwest. We are more passionate than ever about developing the next generation of urban leaders,” says Anthony Jordan, President of Portland Leadership Foundation.

Regionally, Act Six affiliates also have been established at Whitworth University and Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wa., Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wa., Northwest University in Kirkland, Wa., and Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, Wa., and Heritage College in Yakima, Wa.

The following is a list of this year’s Act Six recipients:

George Fox University

Cadre Five

Nancy Arellano (Skyview HS)

Julio Bautista (Newberg HS)

Cristian Boanca (Centennial HS)

Bailie Bowey (U.S. Grant HS)

Mihretu Dessalegne (Portland Lutheran HS)

Dyvisha Gordon (de la Salle North Catholic HS)

Sandra Lopez (Forest Grove HS)

Arturo Lucatero (Tigard HS)

Alex Perez-Perez (Madison HS)

Warner Pacific College

Cadre Two

Mercedes Alcaraz (Woodburn HS WACA)

Hinsene Ali (de la Salle North Catholic HS)

Desaray Andexler (Sam Barlow HS)

Jose Cazares (Forest Grove HS)

Yesenia Delgado (Reynolds HS)

Bronson Enos (Open Meadow HS)

Daniel Fields (Gallatin HS)

Luwam Kahassay (Benson HS)

Gimena Olguin (Tualatin HS)

Marcus Parker (Horizon Christian HS)

Next week the scholars will begin an intensive seven-month training program that involves weekly meetings with Act Six staff, retreats and campus visits.  George Fox University scholars are participating in the traditional Direct-Four Year Track and will enroll at George Fox University in fall 2010.

Warner Pacific College scholars were selected as part of the Act Six Urban Service Track. They will undertake two years of street-level urban service experience with local non-profits in Portland while earning an associate’s degree at Portland Community College while also living and leading at Warner Pacific College. Urban Service Track scholars will enroll full-time at Warner Pacific in fall 2013 to earn their bachelor’s degree.

Learn more about Act Six online at www.actsix.org and http://oregon.actsix.org

The Portland Leadership Foundation is a faith-based non-profit headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The foundation works to move individuals and organizations from good intentions to effective outcomes in its effort to strengthen and develop leadership for the spiritual and social renewal of the city.

Contacts:

Ben Sand, CEO, Portland Leadership Foundation,
(503)209-3485 or ben.sand@portlandleadership.org

Anthony Jordan, President, Portland Leadership Foundation,

(503) 969-6483 or anthony.jordan@portlandleadership.org

Joel Perez, Dean for Student Transitions, George Fox University,
(503) 554-2305 or jperez@georgefox.edu

Rachel Dixon, Director of Multicultural Recruitment and Retention, Warner Pacific College, (503) 517-1369 or rdixon@warnerpacific.edu

When: July 12-14

Where: Deep in the woods of Mt. Hood

Why: Our current cadre’s of Act Six scholars have been in training for nearly seven months. The capstone of their training is a culminating wilderness adventure designed to stretch the scholars way past their comfort level. We can’t say much more, but we promise to blog about it when we get home!

The 11th Annual Urban Golf Classic is growing!

We are happy to announce that this year’s Urban Golf Classic will include both Portland Central Young Life and Young Family Foundation as tournament sponsors. We expect a full field and an excellent tournament! Our goal is to raise $75,000. With your help, we can accomplish this goal and fund incarnational urban youth work in the city of Portland. If you are interested in playing in or sponsoring the Urban Golf Classic, please email Anthony Jordan at ajordan@integra.net or Ben Sand at ben@integra.net.

Course: Stone Creek Golf Club

When: May 17, 2010

Time: 11:30am- Registration; 1:00pm- Shotgun Start

Format: Best-ball Scramble!

We are excited to serve Warner Pacific College as urban consultants. Beginning April 6th, we will be guiding an Urban Commission with a team of fifteen including the most strategic hearts and minds in the institution. The goal is the development of an urban plan designed to set a new trajectory for both Warner Pacific and the city of Portland

Date: April 6, 2010

Time: 3:00-6:00pm

Location: Warner Pacific College

We’ll be meeting every two to three weeks. The good stuff is in the process!

The reason our retention rate is so high within the Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Initiative is because we are incredibly intentional about building a family within each cadre (portland.actsix.org). Each school we work with selects a “cadre.” of ten students. The next seven months is intense as we train the individuals with the hope of building a collaborative and unified mindset among the group.

We head out for our mountain retreat February 26-28

Where: Mt. Hood

Who: All PLF staff and our 21 new scholars

Why: We are better together…and this weekend is designed to forge ten individuals into one family.

On Saturday, February 13th, from 8:00-10:30am, Paul Young will be speaking at Willamette Christian Church. We want you to come because we want you to hear how “The Shack” has brought hope to millions…and helped launch the newly formed Young Family Foundation.

At 9:30, Portland Leadership Foundation is excited to announce our new partnership with the Young’s that has city-changing potential. The thing is…we want you involved!

When: February 13, 2010
Where: Willamette Christian Church
Time: 8:00-10:30am

Beginning February 8th, Portland Leadership Foundation will be opening a Southeast Portland office on Warner Pacific College’s Mt. Tabor campus. The Southeast branch office will be located at the east end of the first floor of A. F. Gray Hall. The Foundation will continue to operate the North/Northeast Portland office at their North Russell Street location.

PLF will strategically engage with Warner Pacific College in a consulting role as the institution further develops its urban identity and implements its strategic plan. We are excited to partner with Warner in this new initiative.