Upcoming Events

February 3rd, 2013 by

Noted sports columnist Berry Tramel will be the keynote speaker at the Sam Matthews Social Justice Award Banquet in Norman on March 7. The event will honor Dewey and Kathryn Selmon, this year's recipients of the prestigious award.

Berry Tramel is a sports columnist with The Oklahoman, serving his 35th year in Oklahoma journalism. Born and raised in Norman, Tramel entered the newspaper business at the age of 17. He worked 13 years at the Norman Transcript, leaving in 1991 as sports editor. During his 21 years at The Oklahoman, Tramel has been a beat writer, sports editor and columnist. He and his wife, Tricia, reside in Norman. Their daughter and son-in-law, Haley and J. J. Argyle, and their three granddaughters, Riley, Sadie and Tinley, also reside in Norman. Tramel, a 1979 graduate of Norman High School, is also a graduate of the University of Oklahoma.

The Sam Matthews Social Justice Award Banquet is sponsored by The Xenia Institute, a not-for-profit organization in Norman working to foster safe environments that enhance understanding, encourage meaningful dialogue and effect thoughtful action to effect change.

The banquet will take place Thursday, March 7, 2013, at 6:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of First Christian Church, 220 S. Webster, Norman. Tickets are $30 each; tables for eight guests can be purchased for $210. Space is limited and ticket purchases are strongly encouraged at this time.

For further information or to purchase tickets, please contact Bob Thomas, Executive Director of The Xenia Institute at 405-321-8682 or via email at bob.thomas.xenia@gmail.com.

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February 3rd, 2013 by

The Xenia Institute will host its 8th Annual Sam Matthews Social Justice Award Banquet on Thursday, March 7, 2013. This special event and its award honor the memory of Norman resident Sam Matthews, while also recognizing significant and continuing work to help advance social justice. Mr. Matthews holds the distinction of being the first realtor in Norman to sell a home to an African American couple in the 1960's. His action significantly magnified civil rights and is celebrated each year by honoring other members of our community who continue to embrace social justice and serve others in a meaningful way.

This year's recipients of the award are Kathryn and Dewey Selmon. The Selmons have actively served multiple philanthropic endeavors including, but certainly not limited to, the initial development of Food for Friends in Norman and their spirited support of "Rainbow Town" — a Liberian village offering education, opportunities and hope to orphaned children suffering the harsh price of war.

Past recipients of the Sam Matthews Social Justice Award are Sam Matthews, Joe Ted Miller, Lester Reed, Kay Holladay, Jim Agar, George and Barbara Henderson and Kathy Heiple.

The banquet will take place Thursday, March 7, 2013, at 6:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of First Christian Church, 220 S. Webster, in Norman. Tickets are $30 each, with tables seating 8 available for $210. With limited space, early ticket purchases are strongly encouraged.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact Bob Thomas, Executive Director of The Xenia Institute, at 405-321-8682 or via email at bob.thomas.xenia@gmail.com.

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November 15th, 2012 by

As The Xenia Institute expands its involvement with community service and other projects, there are times that we need staffing assistance. As an example, when we were called on by the City of Norman to help facilitate dialogue during a series of community meetings on high density development in our community, we called on individuals with an expertise in dialogue skills to help facilitate breakout discussions. The first individuals we reached out to contact for that activity were the alumni of our Dialogue Fellows program.

Unfortunately, we learned that our contact information for those individuals is quite out of date as we received a number of bounce-back e-mails and letters.

Accordingly, we are putting out this call for those who have been through our Dialogue Fellows program to provide us with their current contact information (e-mail, mailing address, telephone). This will help facilitate the involvement of the Institute and its Fellows in the next phases of that development process - applying our skills to help address the needs of our community.

We look forward to hearing from you and to working together to expand our outreach, our services and the rewards of meaningful dialogue to generate new possibilities!

Please follow up with bob.thomas.xenia@gmail.com

Thank you!

 

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November 7th, 2012 by

In The Xenia Institute's ongoing work on a multi-prong approach to address bullying in our community, the Institute helped to facilitate a summit of a group of Norman stakeholders on Thursday, November 1, at Norman North High School. The purpose of the meeting was to allow those individuals representing a wide range of groups throughout the community to engage in a dialogue about bullying in our schools, community and workplaces.

Through that facilitated dialogue, the participants explored strategies for a sustainable, community-wide effort to take a clear stand against bullying in Norman. It was noted that bullying is not a problem that is relevant only to our schools and children. It occurs frequently and regularly in many ways, both subtle and overt and, as a result, seriously impacts both children and adults in a myriad of settings.

For the group's dialogue, the following definition of bullying was used as a reference point:

"Bullying is repeated, intentional aggressive behavior. It involves an imbalance of power used to inflict emotional distress and/or physical harm."

The ensuing dialogue then asked participants to discuss two questions:

1. How does bullying manifest itself in schools, communities and in the workplace?

2. What can we, acting as a community together, do to address the causes and consequences of bullying behavior?

While conducting this summit in October was significant, with it being National Bullying Prevention Month, that activity is only the beginning of ongoing projects to clearly establish Norman as a no bullying zone.

As feedback from the initial dialogue session is compiled, participants in that summit will continue to engage in a process of planning a community-wide event to take place this coming Spring. As details become available for that event, they will be posted on this Website.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this process or would like to receive additional information on the Bullying Project, contact Bob Thomas, Executive Director of The Xenia Institute.

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September 14th, 2012 by

The Xenia Institute is taking a leadership role in the development of a community forum to address the ever-present challenges of bullying in our society. In its work on the subject, the Institute has noted that bullying, often referenced as a school issue, is present in all settings and among all ages. While sometimes physical, it also takes on other forms that inflict severe emotional harm.

The Xenia Institute is proud to be working in conjunction with the Norman Public Schools, Norman Police Department and a number of other community leaders in the development of this program.

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September 14th, 2012 by

Through the course of the summer, The Xenia Institute has assisted the City of Norman in its conduct of a public discussion series regarding city-wide high density regulations. Each session of the series has begun with a general orientation and introduction to specific high density issues including location and compatibility; mixed use and height regulations; parking, traffic and infrastructure; and design criteria. The Institute has staffed dialogue opportunities for breakout groups throughout the series to help foster safe environments for discourse to facilitate meaning full actions and thoughtful collaboration.

The valuable and constructive feedback from these meetings will be used by the City to help guide updates of policies. The Xenia Institute will remain available to the City to assist with this and other projects.

Updates are available at www.ci.norman.ok.us, the City’s Facebook site and the City’s Twitter account.

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September 14th, 2012 by

The Xenia Institute is actively participating with the Oklahoma Partnership for Successful Reentry, helping to network, educate and be a voice for Oklahoma’s reentry service providers.

The Oklahoma Partnership for Successful Reentry, Inc. is a statewide coalition of organizations working in the field of reentry, which is helping ex-felons reintegrate into society, especially after prison, but also including those reentering from jail, probation, or moving from out-of-state. OPSR partner organizations include a broad spectrum of faith-based, community-based, tribal, local,state, and federal organizations and agencies with a common goal: to remove the barriers to reentry in our State. The benefits derived not only provide opportunities to individuals to define a new life, but also enrich communities.

The Xenia Institute has played a lead in the establishment of the Cleveland County Reentry Coalition, which now meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month in Norman. The intial work of the coalition is to develop a Reentry Resource Directory.

For further information on this project, please contact Bob Thomas, Executive Director of the Xenia Institute or go to www.OKReentry.org

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