Curbside Flowers is preparing for Valentine’s Day at its new shop in Oklahoma City, which helps individuals transition out of homelessness by offering employment and job skills training.
The flower shop is a program of the Homeless Alliance and an extension of the Curbside Chronicle, a magazine made for and sold by people experiencing homelessness in OKC.
Ranya Forgotson, director of the Curbside Chronicle, said 10 employees are currently taking part in the flower shop’s job skills program, which lasts about a year, in hopes of preparing employees for the workforce.
“It's kind of meant to be a next step for folks who have been in our Curbside magazine program and done really well, found success, ended their homelessness, moved back into housing and are now looking at more traditional forms of employment,” Forgotson said.
Each employee in the job skills program completed a floral certification program at OSU-OKC through a scholarship and now hand-assembles every bouquet that is sold at the flower shop.
Forgotson said the idea to open the brick-and-mortar flower shop came after years of the Curbside Chronicle selling bouquets for holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.
Curbside Flowers’ Valentine’s Day bouquets can be pre-ordered online by Friday, Feb. 5. All proceeds go toward the Curbside Chronicle program at the Homeless Alliance.
“Homelessness is a really complex problem, and it involves multifaceted solutions,” Forgotson said. “But everyday individuals can be a part of ending homelessness and be a part of the solution, and it can be as simple as where you choose to buy flowers from.”
Outside of the holidays, Curbside Flowers is a full-service flower shop that sells grab ‘n go bouquets as well as provides flowers for special events like weddings or corporate events.
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