Since 2010, Roger and Mona Crawford have used their donor-advised fund at Innovia to distribute thousands of dollars in grants to local Christian ministries and nonprofits. The Roger and Mona Crawford Family Foundation is part of their plan to involve future generations of their family in nurturing a legacy of generosity. Working with their grandson, Evan Crawford Thomas, the Crawfords listed Lumen High School in Spokane as one of their grant recipients for 2020.
Lumen High School, founded by longtime nonprofit leader Shauna Edwards, is a public charter school committed to empowering teen parents by providing an early childhood learning center for their babies, as well as a safe place for students to flourish academically while they work to achieve their dream of a high school diploma. “Teen parents face so many hurdles, and the biggest gaps in services in our community are clear pathways and wrap-around services to support them in achieving their educational goals,” say Edwards. The Crawfords share this passion for the plight of teen moms, and they recognized the urgency in ensuring that Lumen could open safely and on schedule for this fall semester.
Through their work with Innovia, the Crawfords and Evan learned their grant to Lumen could be coupled with the statewide All In WA matching gift initiative. Thanks to that partnership, their fund will have even greater impact in removing barriers, so that teenage parents and their babies can flourish both in and out of the classroom.
