Empower - Center for Growth and Empowerment

06/14/2026

Empower showed up at Spokane Pride with joy and so much gratitude. 🌈

This year felt like a beautiful next chapter - walking with CAT Spokane, celebrating with community, and sharing the heart behind Empower: a by and for 2SLGBTQIA+ program rooted in affirming care, recovery support, belonging, healing, and connection.

Special thank you to the Spokane Skate Community for joining us and bringing so much joy to the parade. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

By and for community. Rooted in care. Growing with pride.

06/13/2026

Stop by and visit us at Pride in Riverfront park In front of the Carrousel doors. 🌈

With CAT Spokane

06/13/2026

🌈 Empower at Spokane Pride! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

We’re excited to share the next chapter of **Empower - Center for Growth and Empowerment**, a by and for 2SLGBTQIA+ community program rooted in affirming care, recovery support, belonging, healing, and connection.

Empower first showed up at Spokane Pride last year in our early stages, and this year we’re returning with deeper roots, a growing vision, and so much gratitude for the community helping bring Empower to life.

This Pride, Empower will be joining CAT Spokane in the Pride Parade and at our booth in Riverfront Park. Come walk with us, visit our booth, follow our page, and learn more about the heart behind Empower.

📍 Booth location: Across from the Carousel near the crosswalk
🕛 Parade: 12 PM
💃 Parade spot: #101
🎉 Park festivities: 1 PM

Come find us at Pride. You’re welcome to walk with us. Celebrate community with us.

By and for community. Rooted in care. Growing with pride.

06/12/2026

✨ An exciting Empower update ✨

Empower - Center for Growth and Empowerment is now operating as a program of CAT Spokane.

Empower is a **by and for 2SLGBTQIA+ program** created to support affirming care, recovery support, belonging, healing, and community connection in Spokane.

This next chapter gives Empower a strong home within CAT while allowing the program to continue growing in its own dedicated space at the Community Building. The structure supporting the program is changing, but the heart of Empower remains the same.

We are deeply grateful to Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund, A Charitable Foundation for their early support and fiscal sponsorship. Their belief in this vision helped make Empower possible, and we are honored to carry that vision forward.

We are excited for this next chapter and grateful for everyone who has helped bring Empower to life.

By and for community.
Rooted in care.
Growing with pride.

12/22/2025

12/08/2025

Free - Saturday Dec 13th - Step back in time, but make it q***r! Dueling poets, drag performers, dance, 13+. RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/winter-celebration-a-victorian-salon-party-tickets-1975175437905

12/08/2025

🌈✨ Join Us for a Night of Q***r Joy & Creative Celebration — This Saturday! ✨🌈

CGE is dedicated to creating spaces where our 2SLGBTQIA+ community feels affirmed, welcomed, and connected.
This weekend, we’re bringing that mission to life with a winter celebration inspired by the warmth and quirkiness of a Victorian salon filled with drag, dueling poets, music, dancing, and community.

We’d love for you to be part of it. 💖

Facebook event link:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1HN87yu8U8/

📸 Swipe through to meet our incredible entertainers:
⭐ Nova Kaine — our dazzling MC
⭐ Venus Flytrap (Griffin Ryan) — our vibrant drag plant
⭐ Audrey Atwood — tragic beauty and rising star of the PNW
⭐ Sugah Dagger — our somber, dramatic Poe
⭐ Chrissy Austin — embodying Emily Dickinson in a dueling poets performance

This free celebration is designed to be joyful, creative, quirky, fun, recovery-positive, and accessible for our community members ages 13+.

✨ What to expect:
• FREE High Tea Buffet (finger sandwiches, desserts, scones)
• FREE Hot Cocoa & Apple Cider
• FREE Photo Booth
• Mocktails for purchase
• Performances, dueling poets, and a DJ dance transition
• A sensory-friendly lounge with soft lighting, games, and cozy seating
• Alcohol-free, supportive environment for youth + adults

📍 Ella’s Supper Club – Montvale Event Center
🗓️ Saturday, December 13
⏰ Doors at 6:30 PM
🎟️ FREE to attend — RSVP here:
👉 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2slgbtqia-winter-celebration-tickets-1975175437905

We know that community care looks many way - sometimes through services and support, and sometimes through coming together to celebrate our resilience, creativity, and joy.
We hope you’ll join us for a night that honors all of that and more.

Please share this post to help spread the word. 💜❄️

11/30/2025

Hey friends 💛
We're excited to share something important we’re building at the Center for Growth and Empowerment. Right now, thanks to a generous matching grant from Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund, every gift to CGE is doubled through December 15 - up to $10,000.

🌈 Donate here (and your gift is doubled):

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/startup.aspx?eventid=392120

Your support helps us create safe, affirming recovery services for 2SLGBTQ+ youth & adults in Spokane — especially young people who deserve care that truly sees and respects them.

A quick note:
As a fiscally sponsored nonprofit, our donations run through Smith-Barbieri — your gift still goes straight to CGE. Just mentioning it so the page doesn’t catch you off guard when you click.

If you’re willing to take that extra moment to open the link and donate, it really does make a difference. Your time, your care, and your support are helping us build something life-changing for our community.

Thank you so much for reading and for supporting this work.
With gratitude,

Hallie 💜

11/27/2025

Today, as many observe this holiday, we hold space for Indigenous communities for whom this day is one of grief, resistance, and remembrance.

We honor Two-Spirit and Indigiq***r people whose identities, teachings, and strength continue to shape collective liberation and healing.

We stand in solidarity with Indigenous sovereignty and with all Two-Spirit relatives who deserve safety, dignity, cultural affirmation, and the freedom to live and love fully.