For the second time in its nearly 17-year history, the Spokane Hearing Oral Program of Excellence is on the move to a bigger location.

Started in 2004, HOPE offers early intervention auditory and language therapy for children with deafness or hearing loss.

HOPE employees and its students plan to move on Feb. 4 into 2,000 square feet of space at 1821 E. Sprague from 1,500 square feet of space at the current location, says Kim Schafer, HOPE’s outreach and development director.

HOPE’s lease expired last November in the building it currently occupies at 502 E. Fifth, east of downtown. In Oct. 2019, the owners of Spokane-based interior design company Design Source Inc. bought the building.

As Design Source outgrew its current location at 804 S. Monroe, owner and principal Angie Cashen told the Journal in a Nov. 5 article that the decision was made to move to the building at East Fifth.

Just over three years ago, HOPE had relocated to 502 E. Fifth from smaller, shared space in the University Hearing & Speech Clinic, in the University District just east of downtown.

“Our program is growing, and we’re super excited about the move,” Schafer says.

The new location along Sprague once served as the home for Information Technology Divine Solutions, which recently moved downtown, Schafer says.

The new location is in a one-story building, whereas its current space is divided between two stories. 

That change will be more conducive to the staff of soon-to-be seven employees and eight enrolled children ranging in age from infancy to 5 years old, she says.

HOPE currently employs a pair of teachers, a speech pathologist, an instructional assistant, and two administrative staffers, one of whom is Schaffer. The school also is in the process of hiring another instructional assistant to help provide support for more rural communities outside Spokane, she says.

Eight children currently are enrolled in a morning session, and eight attend in the afternoon. HOPE’s goal is to help those students with auditory challenges before they reach school age, she says.

When HOPE first opened in 2004, it served a total of four students four days a week. It now serves 50 annually, a number that increases every year, she says.