Two D.C. graduate students have been awarded the Todd A. Lee Scholarship, which honors the life and legacy of the former executive director and CEO of the D.C. Housing Finance Agency.
Ward 5 resident Nina Askew and Ward 6’s Jimmie Robinson are recipients of the scholarship named for Lee, who led the agency from 2016 to 2020 and was known as an advocate of affordable housing and education.
Robinson is working on his master of professional studies with a concentration on real estate development from Georgetown University.
“Legacy is extremely important to me, which is why my primary career goal is to carry out my family’s legacy of serving others through ministry and community development,” he said. “One of the first steps in accomplishing this goal would be to utilize my education and experience to support other faith-based institutions in developing affordable housing.”
Askew, who is enrolled in the University of Chicago’s master’s program for social sciences, said her studies in finance “have given me a foundational understanding of affordable housing development.”
“Through my graduate studies, I am to understand the social and cultural implications of the inequitable allocation of resources, specifically in regards to housing,” she said. “After pursuing my master’s degree, I plan on continuing my studies of marginalized communities and reparative socioeconomic systems in a doctoral program.”