CommonBond Newsroom - Open 4000 Doors

The launch of Alec Soth's Allowing Flowers

ries.nospam@nospam.commonbond.org (Elizabeth Johnson) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:49:00 -1100

Thank you to everyone who came out to CommonBond's "Allowing Flowers" Book Launch event on September 24th. This special event serve as CommonBond's president's dinner and the official launch of the "Allowing Flowers" book, honoring donors to CommonBond's Open 4000 Doors Campaign. The book is a result of CommonBond's unique partnership with nationally renown photographer Alec Soth.

Unique photos of the people of affordable housing
Guests mingled next to the striking views of the Walker's Skyline Room and admired the one-of-a-kind photos of "Allowing Flowers". From a woman's lifted head, silhouetted by a halo of lace curtain, to a young family easily sprawled in bright green grass, the photos shared a common bond: all the subjects were residents of CommonBond housing. They and Alec Soth donated their time to raise funds for CommonBond's Open 4000 Doors Campaign.

The need for more homes and partnerships
The program honored Alec Soth, residents and donors. CommonBond CEO and President Paul Fate, Walker Director Olga Viso, Open 4000 Doors Steering Committee Chair Michelle Pohlad and CommonBond Board Chair Bruce Christensen came together to educate on the need for more affordable homes and partnership with the arts. As Yvonne, a resident of CommonBond's affordable housing community and a subject of an Alec Soth photo, stated, "CommonBond has done so much for me and my family. They provide the water, you provide the dirt and flowers just grow." When Yvonne announced that, through the help of CommonBond's Study Buddies Program, her son was now starting college, the room erupted into cheers.

The evening ended with the presentation of the "Allowing Flowers" books to premier donors to the Open 4000 Doors Campaign. Mr. Soth was on hand to sign the books, which are exclusively available through the Open 4000 Doors Campaign donors.

Thank you to the residents of CommonBond, Alec Soth, BBDO Advertising, the Walker Arts Center, Wolfgang Puck and all the generous partners of CommonBond Communities. With your help, we can open 4,000 more doors to home.

Learn more about "Allowing Flowers"
Give to CommonBond's Open 4000 Doors Campaign (leads to CommonBond's secure donate page)

Alec Soth signs "Allowing Flowers" for Bob, a CommonBond resident featured in the book

Guest applaud photographer Alec Soth

For more information about "Allowing Flowers", CommonBond's Open 4000 Doors Campaign or how to receive a book, please contact Deb Lande at Deb.Sakry-Lande@commonbond.org

Allowing Flowers

ries.nospam@nospam.commonbond.org (Admin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:22:00 -1100

CommonBond Communities is proud to be working with nationally renowned and Minnesota-born photographer Alec Soth to create a book of CommonBond residents, available to premier Open 4000 Doors donors. His stunning photography has been featured at the Weisman Gallery, the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and around the globe. He was recently featured in the New York Times as one of the rising stars of the photography world. Click here to view the article.

Alec generously created a powerful collection of images featuring seniors, families and children who live in the Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota area. Their common bond is that all those featured in this limited-edition book live in CommonBond’s affordable apartments and town homes. Alec captured the humanity of the word “home” in a stunning limited-edition book titled Allowing Flowers. By becoming a premier donor to CommonBond and receiving the book, you will help build more stable, supportive homes for people in need and begin to “allow flowers” to bloom in their lives.

For more information about the book launch event, please click here.

Where are the CommonBond Doors? Stained glass windows and a dome downtown!

ries.nospam@nospam.commonbond.org (Elizabeth Johnson) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:51:00 -1100

What:

Is the first of its kind in the United States?
Has over 25 stained glass windows?
Holds 5 doors of opportunity?

The oldest basilica in the country is now the home of the CommonBond Doors. This July, CommonBond is spreading the word about the need for affordable homes by opening the CommonBond Doors at The Basilica of St. Mary’s in Minneapolis. This bold, life-sized exhibit of five exterior doors represents 4,000 more doors to affordable housing in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. With your help, CommonBond can open these doors for people in need in the next five years.

The Basilica of St. Mary’s
88 N 17th St
Minneapolis, MN

Learn more about how with your help, we can open 4000 more doors to affordable housing in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Would you like to host the CommonBond Doors at your business or community of faith? Contact Deb Lande at (651) 290-6225 or at Deb.Lande@commonbond.org

Where are the CommonBond Doors?

ries.nospam@nospam.commonbond.org (Elizabeth Johnson) — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:58:00 -1100

What has...

One parrot

800 varieties of flowers

Five doors to opportunity

If you answered Linders Flowers in St. Paul, congratulations. This May, CommonBond is celebrating the possibilities of spring by opening the CommonBond Doors at Linders Gardens. This bold, life-sized exhibit of five exterior doors represents 4,000 more doors to affordable housing in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. With your help, CommonBond can open these doors for people in need in the next five years. 5 doors are also located in downtown Minneapolis, MN at the Capella Tower thanks to Capella and Hines.

We’re so grateful to both sponsors for hosting the doors and to Linders for lending flowers to our GrandeGala fundraiser on May 29^th. Both the flowers and the doors represent the potential that a stable home can bring.

Please swing by Linders Flowers or the Capella Tower, learn more about affordable homes and discover how you can help open doors of opportunity in your community. The doors will stay at Linders Flowers and Capella Tower until May 28th.

Linders Flowers
270 Larpenteur Ave
Saint Paul, MN‎
(651) 488-1927‎

Capella Tower
225 S 6th St
Minneapolis, MN‎

See the CommonBond Doors next May 29th at The Depot in Minneapolis for the Eleventh Annual GrandeGala. Get your tickets to this elegant evening now!

33 floors and 5 doors- The Open Door Display

ries.nospam@nospam.commonbond.org (Elizabeth Johnson) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:03:00 -1100

The AT&T Tower:

33 floors,

687,854 square feet,

5 doors to new opportunity

On March 19^th, the CommonBond Open Door Display moved to AT&T and Retex Towers in downtown Minneapolis. A bold, life-sized exhibit of five exterior doors, each door represents the 4,000 doors that CommonBond will open for people in need in the years ahead.

Please swing by, learn more about affordable homes and discover how you can help open doors of opportunity in your community.

AT& T Tower

9th Street and Marquette Avenue
Minneapolis, MN

Retex Tower
50 S. 10th street
Minneapolis, MN

The doors will stay at the towers until April 30th, then move to the Capella Building and Linders Gardens.
Thanks to BBDO Advertising for help developing this project.

Target Supports a New Home for CommonBond

ries.nospam@nospam.commonbond.org (Admin) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:43:00 -1100

Target has joined the Open 4000 Doors Campaign! The Target Foundation awarded funds to support the third part of Open 4000 Doors, a new CommonBond headquarters and housing campus. The campus on Lexington Avenue will combine affordable housing for people currently experiencing homelessness with a LEED-certified office space for CommonBond new and much-needed headquarters. Target’s gift not only provides homes for the homeless in St. Paul, but creates a base for CommonBond staff to provide more homes and services in the future.

Help us create this important development! Donate to help Open 4000 Doors
Learn more about what we plan to accomplish with the Open 4000 Doors Campaign.

Building a New Life: Lonja's Story

ries.nospam@nospam.commonbond.org (Elizabeth Johnson) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:57:00 -1100

A year ago, Lonja couldn’t see anything but uncertainty ahead. She had been laid off from her job as a dental assistant in Minneapolis, and the apartment complex where she lived with her two sons, Devonje and Zackary, was feeling increasingly unsafe. “I couldn’t let my kids go outside to play,” she says, “because I never knew what they were going to find out there.”

Things began to change when Lonja found Vicksburg Commons, a CommonBond affordable housing community being built in Plymouth. She visited the build site and got a glimpse of how her family’s life could change.

“I must have come over here a hundred times to watch this place being built,” she remembers. “I’d drop Devonje off at school, and Zack and I would come over here; we watched the drywall go up and the doors go on. One day, he said ‘Do you think if we pray real fast, God will help us move in here fast?’”

The view from here
Today, the family has a new townhome in a safe, close-knit community of neighbors who all keep an eye on one another’s kids. Devonje joined the Homework Club at the Vicksburg Advantage Center, an on-site service center at CommonBond affordable housing communities. There he gets the chance to socialize and build his reading and math skills. This past fall, for the first time ever, Devonje started a new school at the same school he finished at in the spring.

“Things have really started to come together for us,” Lonja says. “Without this opportunity, I would have had to move my kids to a shelter, or we’d have had to move in with my parents. Now, we’re in a stable, affordable home, and instead of frantically trying to makes ends meet, I’m able to spend time making plans and goals for our future.”

Media contact: Deb Sakry Lande
Director of Community Relations, CommonBond Communities
lande@commonbond.org
651-290-6225

Your Help Opens Doors

ries.nospam@nospam.commonbond.org (Elizabeth Johnson) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:54:00 -1100

Your Help Opens Doors

Thank you to all the amazing CommonBond donors! Despite the economic turmoil, you stepped up to the call, raising over $1 million for affordable housing with services. This giving means that we are over half-way to ensuring homes and services for the whole year. Your generosity is simply overwhelming and we are so grateful.

Your support has never been as important. The foreclosure crisis and the rash of layoffs are hitting our residents hard. More families than ever need a safe, affordable home and help accessing jobs and education. And as the turmoil on Wall Street takes a bite out of many’s life savings, our affordable senior housing is even more important.

Thanks to your help, these people can open the door of opportunity. On behalf of the more than 7,800 residents who call CommonBond home, thank you.

Media contact: Elizabeth Johnson
Communications and Marketing Specialist, CommonBond Communities
Elizabeth.johnson@commonbond.org
651-265-4748