Center for Growth and Empowerment

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.

11/23/2025

🌈 WINTER MARKET WRAP-UP POST

What an incredible day, Spokane. 💛✨

Our Winter Market: 2SLGBTQ+ Artist & Makers Fair was a beautiful success full of creativity, community, and connection. The Community Building lobby was bustling from the moment we opened until the very end. Every table was alive with conversation, color, and joy.

✨ Highlights from the day:
• Artists and makers sold out of some items
• Venus Flytrap completed 12 affirming haircuts on site
• So many new friendships, collaborations, and connections were sparked
• The holiday tree was glowing and made the whole space feel magical
• Families, teens, elders, artists, and allies filled the room
• Vendors supported one another, swapped tips, and celebrated each other’s work
• Our community showed up with so much warmth and curiosity

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who made the day possible:

🌿 Our phenomenal artists and makers who filled the room with talent, courage, and heart.

🌈 The CGE Board of Directors and volunteers who showed up early, set up tables, helped vendors carry in boxes, checked on artists throughout the day, and stayed late to help pack up.

🌟 Jesse, who created a beautiful chalkboard sidewalk sign that welcomed people from Main Street.

🏬 Kizuri, our neighbors in the Community Building, who unlocked doors, offered compassionate support, and helped make the space feel welcoming.

💫 Every single community member who stopped by, shopped small, affirmed our artists, and helped create a joyful, inclusive atmosphere.

This event reminded us why spaces like this matter - places where 2SLGBTQ+ creators can be fully themselves, where community feels warm and safe, and where art becomes a bridge that brings people together.

From all of us at the Center for Growth and Empowerment, thank you for showing up for this vision with such love.

We can’t wait to do it again. ❤️

11/20/2025

Today, November 20th, is Transgender Day of Awareness.

We honor our trans and nonbinary community, your courage, your authenticity, and the fullness of who you are. We remember those we’ve lost, and we stand with those still fighting to be seen and safe.

Trans and nonbinary people deserve more than equality. They deserve safety, dignity, joy, and more than anything, the chance to grow old.

This Saturday...
Trans Spokane presents
The Trans Day of Remembrance (https://www.facebook.com/share/1DStv85R9A/)
At the Spokane Public Library.
Central Branch, 3rd Floor.
906 W. Main Ave.
Spokane, WA 99201
2pm - 4pm with a Social Hour after.
The Imperial Sovereign Court of Spokane
will be there representing
"The GiGi Pierce Trans Empowerment Fund".

Spokane Pride Trans Spokane Spectrum Center Spokane The Imperial Sovereign Court of Spokane

11/19/2025

✨ BIG NEWS: CGE Has a New Home! ✨

We’re thrilled to share that the Center for Growth and Empowerment is officially moving into the Community Building/Saranac, one of Spokane’s most vibrant, affirming, community-centered spaces.

Our new home includes two counseling offices and a beautiful group space, surrounded by nonprofits, artists, advocates, and LGBTQ+ affirming organizations.

It’s a place that reflects everything we believe in: visibility, safety, creativity, and community care. 🌈

We cannot wait to welcome clients into a space that truly feels like home.

More photos and updates coming soon. We’re so excited to share this next chapter with you.

💛 And a special note:

As we make this important transition, our $10,000 matching fund campaign is underway through December 15. Every donation toward CGE’s mission is doubled, helping us establish our programs in our new home and provide services to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth and adults.

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

Thank you for supporting CGE as we grow. 💛💚💙💜❤️

10/30/2025

We're grateful that our founder and ED, Hallie Burchinal, had the opportunity to share The Power of Affirming Care in SUD Recovery, sponsored by the Northwest ATTC and Washington Recovery Alliance.

We had 70 attendees join us, showing just how many of us are committed to building recovery spaces where everyone feels seen, respected, and safe to heal.

Thank you to everyone who attended, participated in the chat, and helped make the conversation so meaningful.

If you weren’t able to join live, you can watch the full recording here:
🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZZkxgdGwng

Affirming care isn’t just inclusion, it’s compassion, courage, and love in action. 💛

Affirming care is more than a value—it is a vital practice that directly impacts recovery outcomes for people with substance use disorders. This presentation...

10/28/2025

Big news, Spokane!

The Center for Growth and Empowerment is now officially licensed by the Washington State Department of Health as a Behavioral Health Agency.

This milestone brings us one step closer to opening our doors and offering affirming, inclusive recovery care right here in our community.

As we prepare for launch, the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund, A Charitable Foundation is helping us build the foundation, matching every donation up to $10,000 through December 15.

💛 Your gift today will be doubled to support healing, recovery, and connection in Spokane.

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