Religion
Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), a faith-based federation of fifty congregations and schools, held a meeting Thursday night to educate and engage the community about violence intervention strategies.
Mayor Ron Dellums held a peace conference on Tuesday to discuss how faith-based communities can help prevent crime among youth and called for more collaboration among religious communities.
In early March, the First Presbyterian Church will be opening its doors to Early Head Start, a non-profit that works in conjunction with the City of Oakland’s Health and Human Services department to run preschools and early childhood development centers for children up to age 3.
On Sunday evening in Oakland, approximately 3,700 miles away from devastated Haiti, more than 180 Bay Area musicians got together to deliver the sound of hope to the Haitian people.
Testimony in Perry v. Schwarzenegger featured vivid personal testimony about struggles with discrimination based on sexual orientation. The team defending Proposition 8, meanwhile, argued that the state has a compelling interest to allow voters to define marriage.
This Kuro mame (black beans) recipe comes from a program the Buddhist Church of Oakland (BCO) held 12 years ago, highlighting food for the Oshogatsu (New Year’s) celebration. New Year’s is an important time in Japanese culture. Many of the foods served on this occasion are symbolic and come from the Buddhist tradition. Mame translates to “beans,” but also means “health.” When the black beans are combined with chestnuts (kuri, symbolizing success) and kelp (kombu, symbolizing joy), the dish symbolizes…
The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir performed its annual Christmas concert on December 23 at the 12th Street City Center.
The Buddhist Church of Oakland is one of the last remaining physical reminders of the Japanese-American community that thrived in Oakland’s Chinatown before World War II.
“Hi, my name is Becky and I am going to die,” I said as we went round the circle. We were at a three-day workshop run by Chris Zydel and Sharon Pavelda called a “death rehearsal,” a therapeutic workshop designed to help people envision and accept the eventuality of their own deaths.