Santino Deng is comfortable living in Austin. Since moving here 10 years ago, he’s watched the city grow from a very small community to a diverse town.

Deng is the new success coach at Austin Pubilc Schools and one of several hundred members of the Sudanese population living in Austin, a community of color which is slowly but steadily increasing.

Deng will work with about 120 Sudanese children and their families across the district during this year, where he hopes to reinforce lessons about working hard and connecting with the community.

“I want to encourage Sudanese kids that they can do it, they can get an education,” Deng said. “You work hard, you can be smart.”

Concidentally enough, a good education is why many Sudanese came to the area. The opportunity to learn at Riverland Community College and to work at high-paying jobs at the Hormel plant and Quality Pork Processors appealed to many Sudanese people living in the U.S., according to Deng. In fact, Deng took the success coach job, which is part-time, so he could go back to school, where he he wants to learn to be a writer.

Simon Bumetet believes the same thing. He earned his associate’s degree at Riverland Community College. Bumetet went on to earn his bachelor’s degree at St. Mary’s University in Rochester. He currently works part-time at the Sudanese Community International Market and lives in Austin because it’s close to his other job in Albert Lea.

“It’s very easy to live here,” Bumetet said. “It looked good to live here, and it’s good for children here.”

Sudanese citizens have faced difficulties in the community, however. Sudanese refugees who come here have a hard time finding work or a place to live if they don’t understand English. Aside from the hassle of trying to get around town without reading signs, sometimes they won’t be considered for a job because they don’t understand they have to fill out a job application, according to Bol Top, a community leader who leads Sudanese worship services at St. Olaf Lutheran Church.

“People are suffering in different ways,” Top said. “Some of them are struggling because when we came here, the people, they don’t know we don’t speak English.”

According to Top, it’s been difficult to for some Sudanese residents to find help after arriving from Sudan, which ended decades of civil war in 2005. The problem, he says, is that there hasn’t been a steady Sudanese community outreach group for residents here.

In 2003, Deng and several other members of the community formed the Sudanese Community Development Association, which would act as an advocate and a guide for Sudanese residents. This group lasted until the end of 2004, where by then practically everybody who served on the executive board moved elsewhere.

Since then, Sudanese citizens in Austin have found other ways to come together. About 100 members of St. Olaf’s congregation stay after regular church services every Sunday at noon to hold a worship service in Sudanese. They’ve met since last November, when Top approached Pastor Ron Barnett about holding services there.

“They want to be part of the church,” Barnett said. “They feel like St. Olaf church is their church.”

Barnett feels the Sudanese residents who pray at the church are continuing a long tradition of immigrants coming together here.

“When the Norwegians came, they worshipped in Norwegian and now these immigrants came and they’re worshipping in Sudanese,” he said.

Community activism outside the church is building steam again as the Sudanese population is growing steadily. Bumetet estimates about 500 to 600 Sudanese people live in the area.

Since April, Sudanese community leaders have met with local officials and organizations multiple times to form more community outlets for the Sudanese. As a result, more organizations are finding ways to reach out to Sudanese residents.

The Welcome Center of Austin recently created a Sudanese academic advisor job, a position Interim Executive Director Jake Vela hopes to fill some time this week. The school district, which has hired Sudanese interpreters since 2003, recently reopened a position for a Sudanese success coach, which Deng earned earlier this year.

Now, after a week on the job, Deng feels just as passionate about his community as he did when he first moved to Austin.

“I knew that this job was a good job to serve your people,” Deng said. “I took this job because I wanted to serve my people.”