This story is taken from Milwaukee Magazine‘s 2019 Charitable Giving Guide. We found 20 deserving nonprofits for you to consider supporting this holiday season.
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“At any given time in Milwaukee, there are 500 kids on the street, 200 of whom identify as LGBTQ,” says Brad Schlaikowski, cofounder and executive director of Courage MKE. “And 26 percent of those 200 are there because their parents rejected them.”
Courage MKE provides a home, help and love to these homeless youth. The program was founded in 2015 by Schlaikowski and his husband, Nick Schlaikowski, after they fostered teens and learned of their struggles.
This March, the couple and their team opened Courage House, a licensed group home on Milwaukee’s South Side. In addition to having safe and stable housing, the five youth living there receive counseling and life skills coaching; when possible, family reunification is pursued.
