New Faces in Leadership
For the Campus. For the City. For the Future.

Act Six is a leadership and scholarship initiative of the Northwest Leadership Foundation in partnership with Whitworth University, Pacific Lutheran University, Northwest University, Gonzaga University, Trinity Lutheran College, and Heritage University that equips emerging urban and community leaders to engage the college campus and their communities at home.

The Need

Many communities across Washington enjoy wonderful cultural and economic diversity where people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences have regular opportunities to interact and communicate. Yet these communities also yearn for new generations of committed, visionary leaders who will build bridges across differences and respond creatively to the pressing challenges they confront.

Unfortunately, not all colleges working to prepare the next generation of leaders provide similarly diverse campus environments and too many potential campus and community leaders face significant obstacles on the journey to a college degree. People of color are still underrepresented in higher education and there remain significant disparities in college retention rates for students from different cultural and economic backgrounds. The Act Six initiative was created as a way to address this issue by educating, inspiring and equipping a new generation of visionary, committed community leaders.

The Vision

Act Six believes that emerging urban and community leaders, with the right opportunity, support and inspiration, can combine their natural gifts and passion with a college education to create a new kind of bold, visionary leadership that will transform our campuses, our communities and our collective future.

Marks of Success

The first 140 Act Six scholars from Tacoma, Seattle and Spokane represent the very best emerging urban leadership that Washington has to offer. They represent six continents of the world and speak 13 native languages.  While over 80% of scholars come from low-income households or are the first in their family to go to college, they are defying the odds with retention and graduation rates greater than 90%.

On campus, Act Six scholars are making a profound impact as they demonstrate their leadership in a wide variety of contexts. Creating award winning programs in the residence halls, founding and leading clubs and even serving as student government president, scholars are making a difference on campus.  And the impact doesn't end at graduation. Act Six alumni are putting their passion and education to work back in their home communities and in other communities around the country and world.

Learn More

• Compare Act Six Washington's six partner colleges.
• Meet actual Act Six scholars and read about their success and impact on campus.
• Get to know the staff and organizational partners that make Act Six work.
• Download an Act Six fact sheet with a quick summary of the program and its success.