In July-August 2025, WAF, along with our partners at the Harriet Hancock Center and Uplift Outreach, hosted our SC BLOOM Wellness & Leadership Retreat. We brought 20 LGBTQ+ young people from throughout the state to Columbia, SC for a transformative four-day experience!

Their time was packed with opportunities to learn, explore, and build community, including a private tour of the Richmond main library, and a banned books teach-in at Queer Haven Bookstore; workshops on gender-affirming care and sexual health led by Transgender Awareness Alliance and PALSS; and a powerful museum session on Black artists and cultural legacy, hosted at Columbia Museum of Art.

With every moment -- from meals shared to knowledge passed -- we saw a vision of queer youth liberation rooted in joy, safety, and fierce imagination. SC BLOOM continues to remind us: when we gather, we grow.