There’s a new ‘rainbow crosswalk’ at the intersection of Pattee and Pine between Adventure Cycling and the Missoula Art Museum.

The project was the brainchild of youth leaders at Empower Montana, according to Youth Program Specialist Spencer Czech.

“We just thought it was very important as a way for the LGBTQ community and also people of color to feel valued and supported in our community, and this is just a visible display of that support,” said Czech. “The city helped us by providing contacts and navigating the traffic laws, how the crosswalk had to look and communication with company that provided materials and establish the date of installation. As far as funding goes, for the cost of materials and labor, all that money was raised by Empower Montana.”

Czech described the crosswalk.

“There are eight colors in a patter that looks like a piano keyboard,” he said, “There’s red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and then brown and black. It was just installed yesterday. We’ve had positive response online, but a few people complained that their tax dollars were used, but the funding all came from Empower Montana.”

Czech said Empower Montana hosts events on high school campuses such as diversity week, a high school and now a middle school leadership camp. There are two support groups called Youth Forward and Be You Crew.

 

 

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