Read More Resident VoicesAmrula: A Home Allows Him to Start Giving Back
The rich colors of the artwork shine vividly in the lights of Skyline’s community room. As Amrula points to his work, the angular lines of Skyline Tower begin to emerge from the lushly patterned picture. “It’s a small city, dealing with people from different countries, different cultures, different races,” Amrula says of the home that inspired him. “[This diversity] is part of life; it’s wonderful living.”
Amrula has deep ties to CommonBond Communities. A resident of Skyline Tower since 1996, Amrula works as a maintenance technician for CommonBond’s Seward Towers in Minneapolis. He is also an emerging artist, using his home and community as an inspiration for his digital art. “It’s not only art,” he says. “It’s discovery.”
Things in Amrula’s life weren’t always so inspiring. A political refugee from Ethiopia, he initially had difficulty adjusting to life in the United States. “It takes time to be accepted in new society,” he says of his first years in the country. “At the same time, it takes me time to accept the way of living in this country.” When he first moved here, he struggled to find a steady job and he struggled to fit into American culture.
This difficult adjustment became easier when Amrula moved to a CommonBond community. In Skyline Tower, Amrula and his wife found a stable and safe place to start a family. Each of their four children was born at Skyline Tower. “It is their home,” he says.
But as his family grew, Amrula found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. So Amrula started working with CommonBond’s Career Advantage program to find better work. Amrula says, “[Career Advantage] gave me hope.” Advantage Center staff helped him with everything from resume building to job training to seminars on what he could expect on the job. “It’s a very supportive way to find a job,” says Amrula.
Career Advantage also connected him with Emerge City Skills maintenance-training program to increase his job skill set. The Advantage Center staff worked with Amrula to secure one of the training scholarships needed and CommonBond property management staff gave him hands-on experience. Still working as a taxi driver to support his family, Amrula completed the intensive 6-week maintenance program with flying colors. Upon his graduation, he applied, interviewed and was offered a position at CommonBond Seward Towers. "He did such a great job during his hands-on training, he was actually offered a job at that housing site" says Barb Hydeen, the Career Advantage Program Manager.
Amrula is now in his second year working at Seward and his family is thriving at Skyline. His eldest daughter just received recognition from the Center for Early Academic Excellence and an academic excellence award at her school. “They have good access to school, to resources,” he says. “They are lucky they are here.”
Amrula hopes that he can share this luck with others through his art. On a recent trip back to Ethiopia, Amrula recalls one of his daughters holding a child orphaned by AIDS. “She said, ‘I want to help her,’ ” he recalls. “I was thinking I could sell my art and help these families.” His mother also recently passed away from cancer, and Amrula is hoping to find a way to donate his artwork to cancer organizations in her memory. He has had some success, selling his art at the Guthrie Gift Shop. He is also putting together a possible show at Augsburg College. “I’m trying to find a way how I can help these people.”
With a steady job, a safe home and good opportunities for his family, Amrula can focus his attention on helping others. His home in Skyline Tower gives his family a base to develop their talents and the security to start giving back. With CommonBond housing, “I live a better life, I live like any American here.”
About CommonBond Communities
Founded in 1971, CommonBond Communities is the largest nonprofit developer, manager and service provider of affordable homes in the Upper Midwest. CommonBond preserves, builds and manages apartments and town homes while providing on-site resident services. They have earned a national reputation for excellence as they leverage resources and provide housing that is viewed as a community asset. For more information about CommonBond Communities or the 10th Annual GrandeGala, contact the organization online at www.commonbond.org or e-mail info@commonbond.org