Pride Whanganui

Pride Whanganui | 64 St Hill Street, Whanganui | Back right of the carpark next to the Brickhouse.

Email – info@pridewhanganui.co.nz

 

Pride Whanganui Trust Mission: To provide support, resources, information and advocacy for the Whanganui LGBTTQI+ Communities – including their friends, whanau, schools, employers and other associated communities.

• Drop-in Centre: 10am-4pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at Pride Whanganui. A safe space where people can access resources, information, support, guidance and advocacy. They have access here to free Wifi, a community library with Pride themed books and a community fridge/pantry.
• Pride Youth Groups: Twice weekly at Pride Whanganui. Mondays for Youth aged 11-15yo and Tuesdays for Youth aged 16-20ishyo. Both groups run every week, including school holidays (excluding public holidays). Our Youth/Rangatahi are supported with activities, guidance, resources, but most importantly a safe space to be themselves.
• 60’s+ Coffee Catch Up: A monthly space on the third Wednesday of the month from 3pm-4pm at the Pride Whanganui Office. This is a place where our older Rainbow people can come and catch up with new or old friends in a safe and inclusive space. Some have re-connected with long lost friends, and some have just moved to town and found a whole new tribe. We are supported by our local Age Concern office, so that if any issues arise, we can implement support straight away.
• Parent/Caregivers Support Group: The aim of this group is to offer resources, support, and social connections to those who may be struggling to support the Rainbow person in their lives, or those who have come out the other side and wish to share their story and their support. Join us on the second Tuesday of the month at Pride Whanganui – 64 St Hill Street from 7-8pm for a catch-up and support.
• Monthly Social Group: On the second Thursday of every month from 5pm-7pm at Porridge Watson – 30 Drews Ave. An environment where all Rainbow people can come once a month to hang out and meet new friends. Social isolation and anxiety are extremely high amongst the Rainbow population, so this acts as a great beginner step to putting yourself out there and getting involved with the local Pride Community.
• Professional Development Training: Whether you’re an organisation, a business, a social group or sports group, we offer Professional Development Training to further upskill people who are either currently working with or want to be working with Rainbow people. Through the incredible resources from organisations such as InsideOUT, Rainbow Youth, Gender Minorities and more, we can deliver up to date, accurate information that relates to the individual sector.
• Safe Spaces: As well as Professional Development, we offer a programme called Safe Spaces which is an ongoing partnership to ensure the entity that has taken up being a Safe Space continues to be that way. Anyone can check in with us to report not feeling safe in the designated Safe Space and we can support the entity to change what it needs to in order to rectify any issues.
• School Support: We’re incredibly lucky to have a local Schools Coordinator for InsideOUT so we support them in their mahi. However, if it is outside the InsideOUT scope, for example, liaising with Tertiary institutes, then we will step in to assist with student support, training and advocacy. We’re a regular at the UCOL Community Days and O-Weeks.
• Advocacy: Quite often organisations or businesses need advice, guidance and support in order to further their own mahi or to support their employees or clients.
• Pride Week: Every year since 2019, we have run a Pride Week – not only to celebrate the Rainbow community but to educate others, advocate and most of all – bring visibility. What started off as two events over one day has grown to nearly 20 events in 8 days. We now get people from all around New Zealand and Australia that come to celebrate with us for the week.
• Website & Social Media Pages: We run three social media pages (Pride Whanganui Facebook & Instagram and Pride Youth Instagram) as a way to connect with our community both locally, nationally and internationally. Our website has been created to house important information, provide local information about where to access certain things and is also home to our online merchandise store which offers a small bit of income for the organisation.
• Resources/Information/Support: We connect with hundreds of Whanganui people monthly, not just within the Rainbow Community but those who want to know how to support them better. Parents, rangatahi, whānau, employers, employees, education providers, community support organisations, medical professionals, wellbeing advocates, social workers, counsellors – we work with them all.
• Community Networking & Support: Our Manager Christina is currently a member of the Whanganui Violence Intervention Network (VIN) Reference Group, providing much need insight to all organisations that come under the VIN Network. Christina also assists the local FLOW (NZ
  Police Family Violence) Team and is the Chairperson for the local Rainbow Healthcare Reference Group, working with a range of healthcare professionals to ensure all members of the Rainbow Community have their needs met in this space.