Place of Pride

Place of Pride will be the first 2SLGBTQ+ campus in Canada - a comprehensive hub where people of all ages and stages of life can access programs and resources, build a supportive community, gather for special occasions, and find affordable housing when they get older.

Place of Pride will be central and accessible at 545 Broadway and include:

• A new four-storey apartment building with 21 units on the top three floors
• A revitalized former Klinic building (Wilson House) with a ceremony room, community meeting rooms and private counselling spaces
• A glass-walled welcome centre, café and connection areas, linking the two buildings and creating new programming and community spaces.
• An outdoor courtyard, second-floor patio and Indigenous Permaculture Garden so community can also gather outside.

A place to belong

When Winnipeg’s Rainbow Resource Centre was established 50 years ago, 2SLGBTQ+ Manitobans were on the frontlines, fighting for their most basic rights and equal opportunities.

Since then, the 2SLGBTQ+ community has experienced many changes, challenges, grief, milestones and celebrations. As Canada’s longest-serving, continually running 2SLGBTQ+ centre, Rainbow has shared that journey, growing and evolving to meet the community’s needs along the way.

One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the community’s need for one space that offers them services and resources as well as a welcoming gathering place where they can connect and ‘just be’.

Now, guided by community, Rainbow and Westminster Housing Society are establishing Place of Pride to be that space.

CALLOUT: Each one of us needs a place where we feel like we belong. For the more than 270,000 Manitobans who identify as 2SLGBTQ+ or who have a community member in their immediate family, that space doesn’t exist right now.

Place of Pride will be a dedicated and welcoming hub where services, activism and community come together. A place that 2SLGBTQ+ folks can finally call their own.

Place of Pride will have:

• Affordable housing for 2SLGBTQ+ older adults, with direct access to supports, resources and social connections
• Connection spaces with displays, lounges, and a café and library
• Purpose-built offices and program rooms where more 2SLGBTQ+ folks can access expanded and new services, including counselling
• Spaces where more families can find the supports and community they need
• A kitchen to prepare community meals
• Activity spaces for people of all ages and identities to engage in art and other social groups
• Welcoming spaces everyone in community can enjoy, including a café, a circular ceremony and meeting room, and a park-like setting with an Indigenous Permaculture Garden
• Spaces for community to use for events and meetings.

Together, let’s build a Place of Pride

Fifty years ago, in the early days of determined activism, 2SLGBTQ+ people and the greater community came together to create the centre of service, space and advocacy that became Rainbow Resource Centre.

By working together once again, we can build something new - a purpose-built 2SLGBTQ+ campus where everyone is welcome and included and can thrive.

Will you please invest?

CALLOUT: The $20-million Place of Pride campus was started with $5 million from the federal Rapid Housing Initiative to build the new, affordable housing complex for 2SLGBTQ+ older adults. The Province of Manitoba has committed $3 million to support housing and the new cultural space. We’re asking the community to invest $12 million to create Place of Pride.

You can help build Place of Pride and a more inclusive future for our community.

Please give today.

For more information on this transformational project, or to learn about options for major gifts and onsite recognition, please contact:

Noreen Mian
Executive Director, Rainbow Resource Centre
204-474-0212 ext 208
noreenm@rainbowresourcecentre.org

I will support a Place of Pride today!

Housing Applications Now Open

In partnership with Westminster Housing Society, we are now accepting applications for Place of Pride, designated affordable housing for 2SLGBTQ+ older adults (55+).

Place of Pride is 21 units of deeply affordable independent living located at 549 Broadway. 1 and 2 bedroom suites will be ready for occupancy in May and June 2024. There will be dynamic spaces for community and Rainbow Resource Centre programming onsite with an anticipated completion date of 2027.

To apply:

Option 1: submit completed application by email to info@rainbowresourcecentre.org

Option 2: Drop off in-person at Rainbow Resource Centre during open hours: M-Th, 10-5pm. Please note, we are closed on Fridays and every day between 12:30-1:30.

Download the application here >> Place of Pride Tenant Application

Archival image:
"Winnipeg Gay Pride March 1974"; Gays for Equality; Aug. 31, 1974. Creative Commons BY-NC 3.0. https://digitalcollections.lib...