George Askew has always thought of himself as someone in the lifesaving business. But the pediatrician said that he eventually began to realize were some problems for which he didn’t have a prescription.
“I can treat ear infections, sore throats and bumps and bruises with Band-Aids and wraps and pills,” Askew said. “But what I couldn’t treat were things that had a much greater impact on the well-being of a child: things like poverty, access to education, and disparity due to race.”
Askew first translated his concern into action in 2003 when he founded Docs for Tots, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization now made up of 928 doctors acting as advocates for children’s health issues. He now takes what he learned from that experience to face a new challenge, as CEO of Jumpstart For Young Children, a position he began March 1.
“I wasn’t looking for a job,” Askew said. “But I began to realize that if my goal is to do as much as I can for the health, well-being and social development of children, Jumpstart offers a greater reach for me to do that.”
Jumpstart, a national nonprofit, pairs at-risk preschool children with college-age volunteers in order to provide mentors and literacy assistance.
D.C. has been identified as one of the organization’s “signature cities,” a major focus area for the future, Askew said. While it enlists 135 students at George Washington, Georgetown and Howard universities to work with students in nine preschools throughout D.C., it hopes to serve 380 children by 2010.
Askew said his goal for the organization is to keep Jumpstart focused on serving the whole child, looking at all the factors that influences in a young person’s life. He will balance his time between Boston, where Jumpstart’s headquarters are, and Takoma Park, where he resides with his wife and two children. Askew remains a board member of Docs for Tots and a doctorat Silver Spring-based Holy Cross Hospital, where he treats newborn patients.
BUSINESS
Current job: CEO, Jumpstart for Young Children
Last job: Founder and Executive Director — Docs For Tots
Number of e-mails a day: I don’t dare count
Number of voice mails a day: Few
Best perk: I get to work with extraordinarily smart, talented and dedicated people
Gadgets: My Motorola Q smartphone
Education/credentials: B.A., Harvard University (1985) and M.D., Case Western Reserve University (1990)
Last conference: Committee for Economic Development’s “Building the Economic Case for Investments in Children”
First job: Associate teacher/counselor to severely behaviorally handicapped children
Career objective: To do what I can to improve the current and future well-being of young children
PERSONAL
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Sports/hobbies: Connecting with friends
Transportation: In D.C., almost exclusively the Metro
Favorite restaurant: I have many faves among the wonderful array in D.C. and Maryland
Computer: Sony Vaio
Quotes:”Every man must decide whether he will walk in the creative light of altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s persistent and most urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Cowardice asks the question, Is it safe? Expediency asks the question, Is it politic? Vanity asks the question, Is it popular? But conscience asks the question, Is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him that it is right.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reading: “A Year in Provence” (given to me by a mentee)
