ACAP Seattle, the first Accounting Career Awareness Program, was founded by Mel Minnis, Boh Dickey and Ron Leveret in 1980 to introduce minority students to accounting and other fields of business. A couple years later the flagship program, Summer Residency Week, was established for high school students.

This educational and motivational week has been held annually since 1982 at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. Students are immersed in the college experience for the week, residing on campus, utilizing student services and classroom facilities as well as learning how to budget and manage interactively in a college environment. Thanks to generous donations from business partners and community members, nearly 3,000 students have been served by the program, at no cost to the students and their families.

Since 1982 ACAP has expanded in size and scope of services provided to students in the Puget Sound Region through the flagship program Summer Residency Week, The ACAP Alumni Network and Alumni Events, ACAP Internship & Job Shadow programs and the ACAP Professional Mentorship program.