Community-Minded Enterprises

Some people don’t just serve the community. They build it.
This year, as part of Hands Across Spokane, Community-Minded Enterprises is proud to introduce the Helping Hand Award: Community Connector of the year.

The Helping Hand Award recognizes one individual whose service to others and passion for community have helped strengthen the people, places, and connections that make up Spokane over the last year.

The first Award recipient will be selected through a public nomination process. Community members are invited to nominate someone who has helped bring people together, connect others to support, or create meaningful impact through their commitment to the community.

Nominations are open June 1st through July 31st. Submissions with be reviewed and selected by a review panel made up of Spokane-area community leaders who will select the inaugural recipient.

The Community Connector of the Year will be formally presented with the Helping Hand Award on stage at Hands Across Spokane on September 12th

Learn more and make a nomiation: https://handsacrossspokane.org/helping-hand-award

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it is a good time to pause and think about how much mental health affects our daily lives. It shapes how we move through stress, how we care for ourselves, and how supported people feel when things are hard. Taking care of mental health matters, and getting help when it is needed should never feel like something people have to justify. This month, we encourage our community to keep making mental health easier to talk about and easier to seek support for.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
To learn how to get support for mental health, drug, and alcohol issues, visit FindSupport.gov.

We are excited to share that will be returning September 12th, 2026, and this year the event is moving downtown to Riverfront Park, right outside the Pavilion!
This means more visibility, more connection, and more chances for our community to come together.
Resource table registration is now open! Won’t you be our neighbor?

https://handsacrossspokane.org/

Earlier this month, our team joined community leaders from across the region at Innovia ’s Community Leadership Summit.

We were asked to reflect on a simple but important question: In times that can feel especially divided, what is something you have done, or could do, to help build community?
These are the answers our staff shared.

Thank you, Innovia Foundation, for creating space for conversations like this and highlighting the role we all play in building community.

Did you know that the Downtown Spokane Grocery Outlet has been a steady supporter of recovery work in our community? On Friday, we partnered with their team to purchase grocery vouchers for participants in CME’s recovery programs.
It may seem simple, but support like this matters. We appreciate local businesses that are willing to work alongside community programs to help meet real, everyday needs.

Thank you, Grocery Outlet

If you were president for a day, what would be your first executive order?
This Presidents' Day, we headed over to the Oval ECEAP to learn what our future Mr. and Madam Presidents had in mind, and these are some campaign promises we can get behind. Check it out!

Black history is American history.
Understanding it means being honest about where we have been and where we are now.
Engaging with that truth means seeking out Black voices, supporting Black leadership, and staying curious and accountable beyond a single month on the calendar. Rather than trying to speak for Black communities, we want to use our platform to listen, learn, and direct attention to Black-led work happening right here in our community.

We encourage you to follow and engage with these Black-led and Black-centered organizations in our region:
The Carl Maxey Center
A community hub focused on advocacy, leadership development, and culturally responsive support for Black and Brown communities.
Spokane NAACP
Part of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, working locally on advocacy, education, and community engagement.
The Black Lens
A Black-led newsroom amplifying Black voices, stories, and perspectives in Spokane.

Black History Month is a time to pause and reflect. We encourage our communities to keep learning not just this month, but every day, because Black history is not behind us. It is beside us.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we are pausing to acknowledge that some words endure because they are tested.

Dr. King spoke to moments in history when standing still was not neutral. When continuing forward, in any form, became acts of courage and care. There were times when care meant showing up for others, even when it would have been easier not to.

History remembers those moments not for how fast change came, but for who was willing to move.

Things got fired up in our ECEAP classrooms today!
City of Spokane Fire Department Engine 11 spent the morning with our ECEAP classrooms, sharing a fire safety lesson and a close-up look at the engine. There was a lot of excitement, especially when it came time to sit in the driver’s seat.
Joan, our Family Support Services Advocate, also took a turn and may be reconsidering her career path 😉
Thank you, SFD, for taking the time to connect with our classrooms and supporting hands-on learning in the community!