After School Kids Program (ASK)
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Mission
The After School Kids (ASK) Program serves at-promise pre-teens, teenagers, and young adults in the DC metropolitan area who are making positive strides in their lives and striving to be catalysts for change in their communities. Some of our young people can be more adversely impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline and may experience obstacles to obtaining their high school diploma, exploring careers, advancing their postsecondary education, and/or navigating complex systems. Despite obstacles, our youth envision a brighter future through education, social action, and wellness. ASK provides support to help them actualize their goals through culturally responsive mentoring and tutoring practices grounded in social justice.
Vision
For every young person in DC to receive the advocacy and support, they need in schools and/or community to prevent involvement in the criminal legal system. If ASK cannot provide that direct support, we want to be connected to someone or something that can.
To support the resiliency of our youth, the ASK Program:
- utilizes a near-peer mentoring model, which pairs Georgetown University undergraduate students as tutors and mentors with DC youth;
- provides exposure to the college experience through workshops and community days at Georgetown University’s campus;
- provides personalized, one-on-one academic tutoring, homework help, and standardized test preparation for GED and ACT/SAT;
- promotes skills and behaviors that support lifelong-learning
- provides socio-emotional learning skills and activities; and
- supports social-justice education and our youth’s critical analysis of how they want to contribute to the formation of a just society
Current Programming
Mentoring
Our mentoring program supports youth with their academic work and long-term personal and educational goals. Youth attend tutoring 1-2 times per week and work one-to-one with their Georgetown mentors. In addition to improving academic performance, emphasis is placed on socioe-motional learning and the importance of educational attainment. Our mentors work with youth in DC across core areas and grade levels, starting in middle school. Currently, Hoyas can serve at the Social Justice School on either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday.
History
The ASK Program was created in 1987 when juvenile probation officers and the Honorable Justice Ricardo Urbina, then presiding judge of the Family Branch of the DC Superior Court, approached Georgetown University’s Father Harold Bradley, SJ seeking mentors for adjudicated youth. ASK’s first tutor was Dr. Daniel Porterfield (C ’83), who eventually became Georgetown University’s Senior Vice President for Strategic Development, then became the President of Franklin and Marshall College, and now serves as the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. Under Dr. Porterfield’s direction, the ASK Program sought to empower adjudicated youth in the District of Columbia to make positive changes in their lives by challenging them with new learning opportunities and teaching them the necessary skills to successfully meet those challenges.
To learn more about the ASK Program and how to get involved, email askprogram@georgetown.edu.
The After School Kids Program falls under Georgetown University’s Protection of Minors policy.