Across Wisconsin this Pride Month, residents and visitors are likely to see a surplus of colorful flowers in unexpected locations: Sidewalk cracks.
As part of a campaign by the nonprofit Courage+, which provides LGBTQ+ youth housing, 75 locations across Appleton, Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine will host sidewalk art installations called “Courage to Grow.”
Each installation includes colorful flowers — from individual daisies growing in sidewalk cracks to lush flower gardens outside of local businesses.
The idea is to bring attention to the crisis of LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, something that impacts an estimated 1.7 million young people across the country.
According to the National Network for Youth, LGBTQ+ young people are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ+ peers, often due to familial rejection, coming out, or abuse at home.
“[LGBTQ+ kids] slip through the cracks of a stressed system, surviving — or not — against all odds,” Courage+ shared in a statement. “Courage to Grow is dedicated to making an unseen issue visible, focusing on the human side of the story: all kids deserve a safe place to grow and thrive.”
Each planting is accompanied by a QR code that allows passersby to learn more information, find a map of other flowers, a route to PrideFest, and find opportunities to make a difference.
“We’re using the flowers coming out of the sidewalks and cracks as a symbol of the resilience and the bravery of these queer youths who continue to persevere,” Brad Schlaikowski, co-founder of Courage+, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “They're defying the odds by coming out of the cement.”
Local businesses participating in the campaign are called Bravemakers, offering up places from sidewalks to restaurant patios to host the flower installations. To become a Bravemaker, local businesses, organizations, and individuals must apply and actively demonstrate support for the LGBTQ+ youth community.
“Bravemakers commit to ongoing education, visibility and advocacy efforts that empower young people to show up as their authentic selves,” Courage+ explained.
In addition to expanding safe spaces and give-back programs for young LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites, Courage+ owns and leads Wisconsin’s first and only licensed group homes for displaced LGBTQ+ youth, Courage House and C2. The latter is designed for young adults ages 18-24 to blend Courage+’s existing affirming living arrangements with additional support as young adults move toward independence.
Both facilities offer case management and wraparound services to LGBTQ+ young people without another safe, stable place to call home.
“The ‘plus’ in our name is a promise; a promise to expand our care beyond safe housing and into the daily lives of LGBTQ+ youth and young adults. Their strength and resilience aren’t abstract,” Schlaikowski said in a statement.
He added that the Courage To Grow installations “are a way of acknowledging their strength and reminding every young person who sees the art installation that they’re not alone, and there are people in their community who truly care about them.”
The idea is to call attention to the urgent issue of LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, while also doing so in an eye-catching way, showing those young people that courage and resilience are beautiful and worth celebrating.
“Each [LGBTQ+ young person living on the streets] is a small miracle. Their very existence: an act of courage. They struggle to grow in a world that should be a place that’s safe for every kid, but all too often isn’t,” a video for the campaign said.
“Yet when people stand up for these kids, provide safe spaces where they can grow, they can find the courage to do more than just exist — to bloom and thrive.”
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Header image courtesy of Courage+
