2025 Economic Impact Awards 11-20 Years in Business Top Honors: The Drew Lewis Foundation Inc.

This year, The Drew Lewis Foundation Inc., a nonprofit reaching underserved families in the community, moved into a new year category in the Economic Impact Awards competition.

“We’re no longer the newbies at the table,” says Amy Blansit, founder, CEO and chair of the foundation. “That’s a little scary. We don’t have the excuse of being new; we’re supposed to know this stuff. We’re the experts.”

Part of growing in expertise has been learning to communicate effectively as a staff, Blansit says. She notes that she is a fast-paced individual who likes to tackle one challenge and move to the next, always engaging her critical faculties to try to improve.

“They know I’m coming from a place of care, even when I’m critiquing,” she says.

Blansit said she and the staff have been intentional about identifying the kind of communication they want to achieve in a meeting from among four Cs: critique, collaboration, care and celebration.

DLF started in 2014 with just one part-time staff member and a handful of volunteers and has since expanded to include 20 full- and part-time employees with hundreds of volunteers. Its budget has gone from $15,000 in year one to over $2 million today.

The foundation’s flagship program is RISE – reaching independence through support and education – which aims to empower families to achieve personal, professional and financial stability. RISE has grown to encompass multiple states, including Colorado and soon Ohio and Florida, as well as several Missouri counties.

DLF also operates the Blue House Project, which has worked to revitalize the Grant Beach neighborhood by purchasing homes in poor condition and renovating them to sell to approved buyers. To date, 30 homes have been renovated, and some $4 million has been invested into the community. Construction on the first of several planned higher density cottage courtyard communities began this year in an effort to provide missing middle housing for city residents, the foundation reports.

DLF recently acquired a buyer for the very first house that it bought nearly nine years ago at $40,000 and then put $10,000 into renovating it. The buyer is an employee of the Blue House Project and is also a participant in the foundation’s RISE program. In addition to RISE and the Blue House Project, the foundation offers a community hub in The Fairbanks, with food resources, a bike shop and a coffee shop with free WiFi, as well as office space for agencies.