Meet the St. Paul Bush Fellow working to make housing more accessible

Abdiaziz Ibrahim is one of 20 Minnesota community leaders — five from St. Paul — who recently received fellowships of up to $100,000 from the St. Paul-based Bush Foundation to further their education and training.

For Ibrahim, the fellowship will help him pursue a master's degree and gain skills in community-building and leadership development. He also plans a little self-care — exercising, eating right and, for a man who has been on the go since working in radio in his native Kenya, taking some "me" time.

Eye On St. Paul recently interviewed Ibrahim and other St. Paul Bush Fellows to learn more about what they hope to gain in the next year or so.

This interview has been edited for length.

Q: Good morning. Tell us a little about you.

A: Good morning. I started the day with prayers, as usual. I live near Como Lake and spend most of my time there. I walk around the lake often. It has really helped me the last four years. Every time I walk, it helps me with my sleep, it helps with my body and spirit and I feel better.

Q: Where are you from?

A: Kenya. I was born there. My parents are from there. I went to school and two years of college there, studying broadcast journalism. At 18, I worked at a radio station in Nairobi, broadcasting in English and Swahili. I used to gather news and go to events.

Q: When did you come here?

A: I came to the U.S. at the beginning of 2006 — 16 years and counting. For 15 of those years, I have had something to do with affordable housing.

Q: How did that start?

A: One day I was with some roommates in St. Paul and their neighbors were having problems with mice and stuff like that. I went with that family to the leasing office, doing interpretation for them. They told me they had been to the office several times, but they couldn't explain themselves because of the language barrier. That's when I realized there was something called property management.

And I thought, "Why don't I become a property manager and help people in my community?"

Q: Even with no experience?

A: Somebody took a chance. Somebody saw my potential. Real Estate Equities hired me. I was there about seven years. They gave me a position, what they called a multisite property manager.

After that, I joined CommonBond Communities, then International Institute of Minnesota as a refugee housing case manager. For the last seven years, I've been working for the Metropolitan Council in the Metro HRA Section 8 program.

I have also started a nonprofit [Immigrant Housing Solutions, which helps families access affordable housing in Minnesota].

Q: Congratulations on the fellowship. What will you do?

A: First, I want to pursue a master's degree in business administration to learn how to run an organization.

Then I want to connect and network with several government agencies and the nonprofit sector and philanthropy. I want to learn from them.

I also want to invest in my own personal health and well-being. I want to hire coaches. I want to take care of my body and spirit. I've never gotten a chance to relax. Maybe I'll learn how to ride a bicycle. Learn how to swim. Things I never had time to learn when I was young.

Q: What is your primary goal?

A: I want to learn the skills of being an effective leader, improve my communication skills.

At the same time, I want to learn about one area of affordable housing that I don't know, which is construction. I've always been in property management. I want to know the steps people take when they apply for credit through [the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency]. I also want to learn from developers themselves. The contractors. The subcontractors. I just want to learn the process from the ground up.

For the last seven years, I have helped families find housing and worked with families about the importance of being good renters, of paying their rent on time. I am not boasting, but I can tell you that more landlords are accepting [Section 8] vouchers in the Twin Cities area as a result of the partnership we created with them.

Q: How did you do that?

A: From what I've heard, they just say that I am honest. And they can see the passion in me. I have worked to convince regional managers to take Section 8 tenants. We have like 500 families looking, but I will ask managers, "Can you just help me with 10 or 15?"

Sometimes, you just have to point out [renters] went through a course. They have some financial literacy. Landlords see a passion in me, and I am very much involved in this. That I mean it when I call them on behalf of these families, that I believe in these families.