Tacoma non-profit helping kids go from the streets to honor student

Jonathon Jackson didn’t have much hope as a teen growing up in Tillicum just outside the gates of Fort Lewis in Pierce County. It’s understandable, given all the gang activity, drugs, prostitution and violence that was his world. As for school and the hope of a brighter future? It wasn’t even a consideration.

“If you are an individual that goes to class and does your homework, you actually run the risk of getting picked on and getting beaten up and being looked down upon,” he says.

So he didn’t, instead he ran the streets with his neighborhood friends. But it all changed when his best friend was gunned down and his brother sent to prison all in the same week. He was only 15.

“I realized if I continue to keep going down this path I’m going to end up either dead or in prison or another one of the drug addicts around my neighborhood,” he says.

He knew he wanted to turn his life around and break out of Tillicum, but he had no idea where to turn. Lucky for him, he saw a poster for the Act Six college scholarship. It’s a unique leadership and scholarship program offered by the Tacoma-based Northwest Leadership Foundation, a special non-profit focused on developing leadership for the spiritual and social renewal of Tacoma and surrounding areas.

“Young people need older people to believe in them. They need us to recognize them as the jewels they really are,” says Annie Jones-Barnes, NLF Executive Vice President. “In Tacoma we want to see incredible things happen and we know that things happen based on our leaders”

Jackson found inspiration, mentorship and guidance. School became a priority. For the first time, he saw a different future for himself. With the help of NLF, he dedicated himself to his studies and graduated from high school with honors and was awarded the full-ride scholarship.

“High school graduation was a very bittersweet moment for me, walking across that stage, not being able to wait and applaud for the other friends of mine who were going to be there because none of them were.”

Jackson went on to Pacific Lutheran University in Pierce County, and NLF went with him. Rather than just give him money, the organization was there throughout his college career to help him through what was admittedly difficult at times, especially for a young black man at a predominantly private white school.

“They’re very intentional about training you and preparing you for the environment you’re going into,” he says. “I know I wouldn’t have survived at PLU. There were plenty of times I found myself not wanting to continue. I said ‘I can’t do this.'”

But he did do it. The now 22-year-old got his degree, graduating with honors. And he’s dedicated himself to helping others find a better life like he did. Jackson has joined the staff at NLF, one of dozens committed to making a difference in the world.

“I believe we’re called to it to some degree,” says Patricia Talton, NLF President.

Along with the scholarship program, NLF provides a wide array of training in everything from skills development to relationship building, working with young people for years to give them all the opportunities and resources possible to succeed.

“Nothing that we do is quick and fast because we’re looking for behavior change and behavior that’s going to change the city in a good way,” Talton says.

It’s working. Success stories like Jackson’s are increasingly the rule rather than the exception.

Jones-Barnes says while the dropout rate for underprivileged college students continues to soar, NLF is seeing a graduation rate of over 90 percent for its participants. And like Jackson, many are now setting their sights on ambitious projects and dramatically reshaping the community and the future.

“Young people need to know that there is a group of people cheering them on to do better and that really is the work of Northwest Leadership Foundation,” she says.