Why we’re supporting Place of Pride (and how you can too!)

Imagine spending your whole adult life enduring relentless physical, social, and economic risk just to live as your authentic self… while also fighting tirelessly for your fellow 2SLGBTQ+ community members to be able to do the same.

Imagine “two steps forward, one step back” (and sometimes the reverse) for decades – celebrating incremental progress in safety, acceptance and inclusion, while never getting so comfortable as to believe it was guaranteed permanent.

Now imagine having to bury your lifelong personal history and identity after all those years just to feel safe in seniors’ housing, at the time in your life when you should finally be able to rest.

With their Place of Pride initiative, the team at Winnipeg’s Rainbow Resource Centre says: no more.

“During my time on the Rainbow Resource Centre board, we were becoming aware that many of our elders – the folks who fought for equality in the 1970s and 1980s and effectively won the rights that we enjoy today – were retreating to the closet to stay safe in their later years when they moved into seniors’ buildings,” says Patrick O’Reilly, Chair of the Place of Pride capital campaign.

“It’s our responsibility to care for our elders and enable them to age-in-place in the community they helped build,” says Noreen Mian, Rainbow Resource Centre’s Executive Director. “It’s also our responsibility to continue to champion rights, and to help preserve their legacy of survival and activism during the decades when it was a criminal offence to be 2SLGBTQ+.”

As a longtime supporter of Rainbow Resource Centre – both in funding and in staff engagement opportunities – Payworks is honoured to donate $250,000 to help them achieve their goal with Place of Pride: to provide “the first 2SLGBTQ+ campus in Canada… including new spaces for counselling, programming, community, and 55+ housing in central Winnipeg.”

Photo: From L-R – Michael Penman, Payworks President; Noreen Mian, Rainbow Resource Centre Executive Director; Heather Reid, Payworks Community Events and Engagement Specialist; Charli Champagne, Payworks Manager of DEIB and Talent Acquisition; and Patrick O’Reilly, Chair of the Place of Pride capital campaign.

“Payworks is grateful for the opportunity to support our 2SLBGTQ+ staff, clients, family, friends, and neighbours by contributing to the Place of Pride project,” says Payworks President Michael Penman. “Rainbow Resource Centre has served as an invaluable local resource since long before we even opened our doors here in Winnipeg, and we’re thrilled to play even a small role in helping them to achieve their vision of a society in which diverse sexual and gender identities, orientations and expressions are included, valued, and celebrated.”

Exploring Place of Pride

Place of Pride’s accessible campus is made up of three buildings and outdoor spaces, with construction scheduled to be completed in late 2026. As they describe it, Place of Pride will include:

Photo: Welcome centre at Place of Pride, which will include a library “made possible through the support of Payworks” (render courtesy of Number TEN Architectural Group, via Rainbow Resource Centre).

1. A new four-storey building with 21 apartments on the top three floors and programming and community spaces on the first floor. While the main floor is still being fitted out, construction of the living space wrapped up in August 2024, with tenants moving in shortly thereafter – get to know one of them below!
2. A revitalized former Klinic building (Wilson House) with a ceremony room, community meeting rooms, and private counselling spaces.
3. A new glass-walled welcome centre, which will provide a link between the apartment building and Wilson House so all three buildings are seamlessly connected. The welcome centre will include art spaces, community-connection spaces… and a library that’s “made possible through the support of Payworks!”
   
   Over the years, Rainbow Resource Centre has developed Canada’s most extensive 2SLGBTQ+ library – home to over 2,300 fiction and non-fiction works about the community’s history, challenges, and triumphs. The new library at Place of Pride will be open to community members who’ll see their own experiences in these stories, as well as to family and allies seeking education and understanding. It’ll also serve as a gathering space for activities, discussions and connection (as all libraries do!).

4. A courtyard, garden, and second-floor patio, which will provide outdoor community gathering spaces.
   

Photo: Rooftop patio at Place of Pride (render courtesy of Number TEN Architectural Group, via Rainbow Resource Centre).

Why it matters

“Rainbow Resource Centre is Canada’s longest-serving, continually-running 2SLGBTQ+ centre. And while 4,500 people each year participate in specialized programs and support groups, access the library, or receive counselling, the community has long expressed a need for Rainbow Resource Centre to be more than a service organization,” explains Noreen.

“By creating a space made by and for the 2SLGBTQ+ community, we can ensure everyone has what they need to thrive, including a supportive community.”

Place of Pride tremendously expands Rainbow Resource Centre’s ability for impact – from 2,000 sq. ft. to 12,000 sq. ft. of programming and community space for use by the 270,000 Manitobans who consider themselves part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community (which includes “those who identify and their immediate families”).

“Place of Pride ensures there’s a safe and welcoming home for everyone – no matter where they are in their journeys,” Noreen shares. “From the most marginalized members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community to those who’ve always been loved and supported, community will finally have a space where they can be themselves and access whatever they need; so can their families and friends.”

Photo: Bubble connection space at Place of Pride (render courtesy of Number TEN Architectural Group, via Rainbow Resource Centre).

“You know, up until recently, we’ve had some folks ask us why a place like this is needed nowadays,” says Patrick. “The reality is, even today, I have to check my surroundings before being me. And that twinge of concern and fear is experienced by a highly-privileged, successful, white male business leader. Imagine the struggles that so many others are facing!

“Sadly, over the past months, the world has learned yet again just how quickly ‘equality’ can be taken away. Now more than ever, our communities need safe spaces where people can be together and support each other.”

Samantha’s story

After spending almost 15 years seeking and advocating for safe, accessible housing, Samantha Smith – a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community who lives with physical disabilities – moved into Place of Pride on a sunny Saturday in September 2024.

Photo: Samantha unpacking her new kitchen on move-in day.

Samantha has enjoyed the last several months of decorating and settling into her new home, and has already seen life change for the better since moving into Place of Pride. “I feel that I’m physically doing much better with my disabilities, and I’ve also met most of the tenants in the building,” shares Samantha. “We all have our own stories, and they all seem to come down to safety – we need to feel safe where we live.”

That feeling of safety isn’t just physical; it’s psychological as well.

“There are many ways to have pride,” Samantha says. “The 2SLGBTQ+ community has been fighting for our rights for years, and it took us forever to have pride in who we are. I also have physical disabilities, and it took many years to have pride in myself just because I was born differently from most people. I don’t have to be ashamed of myself; I can be myself instead of trying to fit into a mold that I don’t fit into.”

Photo: Multi-purpose space at Place of Pride (render courtesy of Number TEN Architectural Group, via Rainbow Resource Centre).

How you can help

“Rainbow Resource Centre encourages individuals, families, and organizations to continue to stand up for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the face of increased harmful rhetoric,” says Noreen. “Everyone knows someone who’s part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community!”

Feeling inspired but unsure where to start?

1. The best first step can often be to simply listen!
   
   “One way to support Place of Pride is to seek understanding of the tenants’ stories – what we’ve been through, and why we have these stories,” advises Samantha. “I’ve felt most comfortable in my life with people who listen without judgement.”

2. From there, help spread the word.
   
   “Payworks is helping to blaze the trail by contributing both financially and socially to the cause,” says Patrick. “Every time someone at Payworks talks to a client or a colleague or a friend about the good work that their employer is doing by supporting Place of Pride, it helps to get others engaged.”

3. Donate, donate, donate.
   
   And of course, you can help by providing financial support for Place of Pride, as they’re seeking the $12 million necessary to complete Phase 2 of the project: “the programming, service, and connection spaces 2SLGBTQ+ Manitobans have waited so long for.”

To learn more about Place of Pride or provide support of your own, please visit: https://rainbowresourcecentre.org/place-of-pride.