Welcome to Group Project, a series on the many ways young people are building and engaging with community. From queer resistance to finding new hobbies to forging alternate paths, working together is more important than ever. Here's how young people are getting off their phones and seeking community IRL.
Across the country, 4.2 million teens face housing instability each year – and 40% of teens experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQ+, according to data from the National Coalition for the Homeless. But in Wisconsin, Courage+, Wisconsin’s first licensed provider of LGBTQ+ youth housing, is trying to change that statistic.
“Most people picture adults when they think of homelessness in America, but LGBTQ+ youth —some as young as 12 — are among the most at risk. At Courage+, our mission is to provide youth understanding and belonging," said Brad Schlaikowski, the co-founder and executive director of Courage+, whose mission statement includes the vow to provide safe and inclusive housing and give LGTBQ+ youth a sense of community.
This Pride month, that sense of community seems more important than ever, as attacks against LGBTQ+ people, particularly trans people, by the Trump administration continue — like an executive order that sought to define sex as an “immutable biological reality,” or another that directed the Secretary of Education to ensure that federal funds don’t support the education of so-called “gender ideology.” Additionally, the Supreme Court just decided that anti-trans legislation that bans gender-affirming care for minors is constitutional — a decision that the teen at the center of the case likens to “body horror.”
Amid such an onslaught, the need for community-minded places for LGBTQ+ youth is critical, especially when they are at a higher risk of experiencing homelessness than their straight counterparts. To underscore the severity of the issue of homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth, Courage+ has created a city-wide street installation called Unsheltered. The campaign features cardboard art installations created by local artists.
"These installations are designed to interrupt daily routines and demand attention to this crisis that too often goes unseen,” says Schlaikowski. Courage+ describes the installations as drawing attention to the fact that a bedroom should be a refuge, but that isn’t the case for many LGBTQ+ teens in Wisconsin.
Teen Vogue talked to Schlaikowski and Coopy, a 17-year old who has been helped by Courage+’s programs (Coopy's name is being withheld for privacy). The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Teen Vogue: What makes Courage+ unique in Wisconsin?
Brad Schlaikowski: The average stay in a group home in the state of Wisconsin is 38 days. Our average stay right now is over 200 days for our kids. We really focus on operating our facilities under a child-informed mindset and child-informed philosophies. That's something that we truly make that investment in. We need to understand how these beautiful children work.
TV: Why is it important to have specific resources for LGBTQ+ homeless youth?
BS: There [are many] group homes in the state of Wisconsin. There [are] options for straight kids to go to – but those homes are not affirming [for LGBTQ+ youth] all the time. It's important because, and now more than ever, these children have become targets. The adults are targeting [queer] children right now. I can handle politicians talking about me as an adult, right? But our queer children are hearing our leaders of our country, the government, say they don't exist. So having spaces like this for those kids, we get to be that voice for them and say, you matter every single day.
TV: Coopy, you’ve been part of Courage+’s organization. What has it felt like to be in a group home that affirms your identity?
Coopy: It's like being at peace. You don't have anything to worry about, if that makes sense. You don’t have to worry about being punished there for what you’ve gone through in your life. I like that.
TV: Does it feel particularly important to you during this Pride month, as LGBTQ+ youth are under attack across the country, to be part of Courage+’s efforts with the Unsheltered installation?
C: Yes. I see Pride Month as our time to be like, hey we’re still here. We’re still here. We forever will be until we have what we need to have.
BS: It's just every day you wake up and read a headline. But then you march in [Milwaukee’s Pride] parade and there are thousands of people from every generation and every culture and race and every religion that are there cheering for you and come through [with] a sign that say, community loves you and things like that. It's the whole community concept, right? It's these little kids that are part of cis-het families, waving their pride flags and waving at everyone. It's that extra hope to say hate is taught.
