Act Six Results
Act Six is the Oregon’s full need, full tuition scholarship for urban and community leaders. See a snapshot of our impact.
Mission:
Act Six is a leadership and scholarship program that connects community affiliates with faith- and social justice-based colleges to equip emerging urban and community leaders to engage the college campus and their communities at home.
Program Summary
As a leadership development and college access and retention initiative, Act Six accomplishes this mission through the following model:
- Recruit and Select: Locally recruit and select diverse, multicultural cadres of a region’s most promising emerging urban and community student leaders.
- Train and Prepare: Intensively train 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: Send the teams together to select faith- and social justice-based colleges on full-tuition, full-need scholarships.
- Support and Inspire: Provide strong campus support, ongoing leadership development and vocational connections to inspire scholars to serve their home communities.
Scholar Demographics
Since 2002, Act Six has trained 615 scholars in 90 cadres with the following characteristics:
• 37% Hispanic
• 25% African American
• 13% multiracial
• 12% White
• 9% Asian
• 3% Pacific Islander
• 1% American Indian
• 58% female
• 74% first generation college students
• 80% from low-income families
• 91% first generation or low-income
• Represent 6 continents of the world
• Speak over 70 languages
College Outcomes
• 83% of the scholars who started college have graduated or are still enrolled 70% of eligible scholars have graduated within four years.
• On average 20 points higher than overall grad rates at partner colleges. 80% of eligible scholars have graduated within six years.
• On average 15 points higher than overall grad rates at partner colleges scholars have been awarded more than $43 million in scholarships and grants.
• Scholars are assuming significant leadership roles on campus, including numerous club presidents, 10 student government presidents and a board trustee.
Alumni Outcomes
The first-ever Act Six Alumni Survey was implemented between May and September 2016. Among the 198 Act Six scholars who had earned their bachelor’s degrees from their Act Six colleges as of May 2016, 178 (90%) responded. Initial findings include:
• Returning Home. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of alumni currently reside in or near the community where they were selected for Act Six: 17% in the same neighborhood: 24% in the same city, but different neighborhood; and 24% in the same state, in a nearby city.
• Postgraduate Education. Among alumni who have been out of college for three or more years, 31% have earned a postgraduate degree or credential: 22% master’s degrees, 6% certificates, 2% additional bachelor’s degrees and 1% doctoral degrees.
• Employment. By sector, 72% work for non-profit organizations or in the public sector (40% and 32%, respectively). By field, nearly two-thirds work in education, community and social services, or healthcare (35%, 16% and 13%, respectively).
• Leadership. Nearly one-third (30%) have served in a leadership role outside of their primary employment since graduating from college, and over one-fifth (21%) have started a new program, organization, or business since graduating from college.
• Service. Over the past twelve months, 75% of alumni have devoted their time to volunteer work or a community action program, and 85% contributed monetarily to charities or philanthropies.
Learn More About Act Six
Full-tuition, full-need scholarship for first generation college students from underrepresented communities in Portland.
Emerging Leaders
Review a snapshot of our 2019 impact and learn more about our goals for 2020!
Every Child
See the results on Every Child’s partnership with Oregon’s Department of Human Services.