The purpose of the Giving Women Seed Grant Program is to stimulate innovative ideas that benefit the community of Oberlin. Grants of up to $500 are designed to provide initial support for individuals or groups to develop a new project, explore a new direction, or help with start-up funds. Any resident of Lorain County may apply, and the deadline for applications is April 23, 2012. Please see our website to download an application.

Ben Tobin, a senior cinema studies major, is trying to help get the word out about Magda Olchawska's film, "Anna and Modern Day Slavery." Olchawska is an award-winning filmmaker and children's book author, and she's making this film to raise awareness of the issues of human trafficking and modern day slavery. The cast and crew are working on a small budget and the film will be distributed to various festivals and eventually will be available online for free. Magda is trying to raise about $12,500 and needs all the help she can get. Here's the indiegogo link to the project. 

The Direct Action and Research Training Center (DART) is now accepting applications for the 2012 DART Organizers Institute, a paid field school leading to career placement as a grassroots community organizer. The DART Organizers Institute combines a classroom orientation with on the ground in-field training at a local grassroots organization and in-field training site. Organizers are provided with a cost of living stipend and travel reimbursement. After successful completion of the program, DART will place graduates into permanent full-time salaried positions earning $32,500/year plus benefits. The DART Organizers Institute will begin 7/9/2012. Training locations and permanent placements sites include cities in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia and Florida. To learn more visit www.thedartcenter.org or contact Abby Tatkow at 785-841-2680 or abigail@thedartcenter.org. The deadline to apply is midnight on Sunday, 4/1.

Oberlin Orthodox Christian Fellowship welcomes all to a Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Tuesdays 3/13, 3/20, 3/27 and 4/3, at 6 pm in the Lewis House Multifaith Center. These special services are centuries old and are in keeping with the Great Lenten season encompassing repentance, fasting and intensified prayer. As with all of our services you do not have to be Orthodox to attend. Afterwards there will be a free Lenten soup/bread/fruit supper. We hope you can make it. And by "make it" this doesn't mean you have to be there for the entire program. If you can make the service, or a part of it - great! If you can only make the dinner - great! If you can only stop by to say "Hi" - great! We suspect the dinner will probably start around 7 pm. So, come late or early--no reservations required. 

During Lent Credo will be partnering with local churches from Oberlin Area Cooperating Ministries to offer Mid-Week Lenten Services on Wednesdays from 12:15-12:45 pm. The theme is "Counting the Cost of Bearing Witness to the Cross." Services will include music, prayer, scripture, and a message. Participants are encouraged to make contributions to our collective Lenten hunger offering. The schedule of locations and speakers is below:

3/21 - Peace Community Church, Anita Peebles

3/28 - Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Speaker TBA

4/4 - May 9 Fairchild Chapel (Normal Credo A Capella services resume)

Are you thinking of staying in Oberlin over spring break? Here's an amazing spring break volunteer opportunity! Habitat for Humanity is working with Students for Environmental Sustainability to organize a volunteer day to fix up a house in Vermillion, OH, just about an hour away from campus. Students will work with students from Lorain County Community College on weekends during spring break, from March 24-25 and March 31-April 1. Volunteering would include working on projects to fix up the house, including painting, removing carpet, weatherization, etc. Once the house is fixed up, it will be given to a low-income family from Vermillion. Interested students should sign up on this google doc or email Maggie Heraty (mheraty@oberlin.edu). Depending on the number of students interested in participating, transportation will be provided with opportunities for students to fundraise.

You are invited to take a bite out of world hunger. On the afternoon of Sunday, 4/29 we are assembling on Tappan Square to follow a three-mile trek through the town in Oberlin's CROP Walk 2012. Last year, we raised more than $12,000, distributed by Church World Service, to help people worldwide to feed themselves--providing seeds, farm animals, clean water and instruction to use valuable resources to enhance human lives. 25% of the proceeds returned to Oberlin, shared by Oberlin Community Services and our Weekday Community Meals Program. If you are interested in recruiting walkers and/or walking please contact Connie Bimber at  (440) 774-6175 or cbimber@oberlin.net. 

Sunday, 4/8, 6:30 am, Tappan Square Bandstand
Come greet the dawn and share in community at a college and community Easter sunrise service. The theme of this ecumenical service will be "Celebrating New Life." Light refreshments will be served in the Multifaith Center, 68 S Professor St. following the service. In the event of inclement weather, the service will be held at Peace Community Church at 44 E Lorain St. All are welcome! Sponsored by the Ecumenical Christians of Oberlin and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. With any questions contact Anita.Peebles@oberlin.edu.

Tuesday, 4/10

Festival: Lunch Starting at 11:30 am, Program at 12:15 pm, Root Room

Lecture: Music Starting at 7:30 pm, Lecture at 8 pm, Finney Chapel

Save the date for Friendship Day 2012, when college and community will welcome Gustav Niebuhr, professor of religion and media studies at Syracuse University and former reporter for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He is a leading writer about American religion and recently published Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America. He is also the grandson of H. Richard Niebuhr and the grand nephew of Reinhold Niebuhr, two of the most famous 20th c. Protestant theologians.

Saturday, 4/14, 12-2:30 pm, First Church in Oberlin (UCC) Undercroft
This is an opportunity to learn about and support a creative effort to alleviate poverty and homelessness on a local level. The training will explain IHN's work, bringing together diverse congregations to host homeless families and help them get back on their feet. They will focus on preparing students to serve as volunteers. Service opportunities, which require a training, are available throughout the week of the April 15. Please RSVP to David Fisher at david.fisher@oberlin.edu by Friday, March 23 if you would like to attend the training, and/or if you are interested in joining a service opportunity. 

Friday, 4/13, 6-9 pm

Saturday, 4/14, 9 am-9 pm

Sunday, 4/15, 11 am-6 pm

Oberlin First United Methodist Church (45 S Professor St.)

AVP is a means to gain skills in nonviolent conflict resolution, self-affirmation, communication skills, and anger management. AVP began in U.S. prisons in the 1970s and has grown out into communities to teach skills like intergenerational communication, domestic communication, and trauma healing. Additionally, it has spread to dozens of countries around the world including many in the Middle East, Central and South America, and sub-Saharan Africa.

AVP workshops use the shared experience of participants, interactive exercises, games and role-plays to examine the ways in which we respond to situations where injustice, prejudice, frustration and anger can lead to aggressive behavior and violence. The training is highly experiential with participants choosing many of the ways in which the exercises and skill learning occur. Anyone who is interested in learning new and creative ways to respond to conflict in personal relationships and groups is welcome. We are using a sliding fee scale to cover the expenses, from $20 to $100, depending on your financial means. Please decide what you are able to pay--no one will be turned away even if they cannot afford $20. To register, please call or email David Snyder at (440) 574-9501 or davidasnyder@hotmail.com (please put "AVP" in the subject line). Sponsored by Oberlin Friends (Quaker) Meeting, Oberlin College Student Young Friends, and Oberlin College Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. More information at http://www.avpusa.org.

Saturday, 4/14, 10 am, Departing from the Multifaith Center

Lunch will be available for $5 at Udupi Cafe. Everyone should wear clothing that covers shoulders and knees (no tanktops, shorts) and women should bring a headscarf for visiting the masjid. To register please email greg.mcgonigle@oberlin.edu. Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.

Sunday, 4/22, 1-6 pm, Starting at the Multifaith Center

OC students of all religions and philosophies are welcome to engage in this Interfaith Service Day, which will focus on intentional ecological service in celebration of Earth Day. We will register at 1 pm, serve in local non-profit settings, and conclude with reflection and a meal by 6 pm. All are welcome. Registration information available soon. For more information please contact Alyssa.Phelps@oberlin.edu or Lara.Griffin@oberlin.edu.

Thursday, 4/26, 7:30 pm, King 306

Director Jacob Bender will screen and discuss his film "Out of Cordoba: Averroes and Maimonides in Their Time and Ours" which explores some of the most vexing issues of our time: Is there a "clash of civilizations" between Western and Muslim civilizations? Are Jews and Muslims incapable of peaceful coexistence? Does religious faith lead inevitably to xenophobia and violence? Sponsored by the Mead Swing Lectureship Committee, the History Department, La Casa Hispánica, Cinema Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and Comparative Muslim Cultures and Civilizations.

Saturday, 4/28, Time TBA, First Church in Oberlin UCC

Members of the Oikos Ensemble will lead a workshop in collaboration with local artists on the spiritual side of jazz music and its use in worshipful settings. Sponsored by the First Church in Oberlin UCC.

Sunday, 5/27, 1:30 pm, Warner Concert Hall

All are welcome at this multifaith spiritual celebration with music, prayers, inspirational readings and an address to give thanks for, inspire, and bless the Class of 2012. This year's address will be given by Daisy Kahn, Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which was a major partner in the effort to build a mosque and interfaith center near Ground Zero in New York City. ASMA is also engaged in domestic and international programs to promote Muslim women's and youth empowerment and leadership and to deepen the discourse of progressive Islam. Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and the Commencement/Reunion Weekend Committee.