Who We Are - Courage+

We give LGBTQ+ youth a sense of community centered around care, safety, and acceptance – while bringing about real systemic change.

An estimated 1.7 million LGBTQ+ youth and teens are displaced across the U.S.

We started in 2015 as Courage MKE (the MKE is short for Milwaukee).

In 2025 we changed our name to Courage+ to match our expanded reach and programs offered.

Our mission remains the same:

Provide safe and inclusive housing, trauma-informed care catered to the LGBTQ+ community, education, and reliable data-supported thought leadership.

History

These are some of the biggest milestones for our organization — with many more on the horizon.

Jul. 2014

Founders Brad and Nick Schlaikowski begin their foster care journey. Over the course of the next 16 months they’d identify a huge need for safe, affirming LGBTQ+ care for children in out of home care.
Nov. 2015

Courage, an event for homeless LGBTQ youth, is the first Courage event which raised money for Pathfinders.
Dec. 2015

Courage Initiative Ltd. was founded by Brad & Nick Schlaikowski.
Dec. 2015 - Jan. 2018

Our Courage Family was born. Week to week our community would help host small fundraising events so we could get the word out about the need for housing and support for homeless and displaced queer youth. Courage was born from small $5, $10 & $20 community donations from our family who believed in “the little nonprofit that could.”
May 2019

We welcomed our very first resident at the Courage House, Wisconsin’s first and only home for displaced LGBTQ+ youth. We began to receive national recognition for the work being done.
Mar. 2020

Courage MKE was accepted into the Ali Forney Center’s technical assistance mentorship program to prepare us for the next phase of our growth.
Jul. 2020

We received national accreditation from from the Joint Commission.
Feb. 2021

We received our Qualified Residential Treatment Program certification from the state of Wisconsin.
Jan 2023

We purchased an apartment building 1.6 miles from the Courage House that would eventually become the C2 Apartments. The community has come together once again to help us renovate and prepare the space for its new residents. From this a unique program unlike any other in the state of Wisconsin was born.
Apr. 2024

The C2 Apartments open!