I. Metshin: “My dream as a mayor so that Kazan could rightly be called a good city”

The I open forum “Good Kazan”, organized with the participation of the service Dobro Mail.Ru was held on November 30 and December 1 in the halls of the Kazan City Hall. Over 500 people took part in it. Discussion sites and master classes of leading federal experts in the field of charity were organized within the framework of the forum. Lev Ambinder, the president of the Rusfond, Alexandra Babkina, the head of the service Dobro Mail.Ru, Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, the general director of the Social Information Agency, Natalia Pochinok, the rector of the Russian State Social University, Yevgeny Gorkaev, the author of the project “The Soulful Market”, are among them.

“Work in developing a culture of charity needs organizing, systematization, its clear and transparent rules and, of course, support in such a large metropolis, where more than a million people live. Therefore, we organized this forum with a great desire: we signed an agreement on a partnership with Dobro Mail.Ru, gathered our publics and the best experts, those who have been working on this important, noble field for several years”, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, commented on the initiative on the eve of the forum opening.

The “Good Kazan” is one of the 12 development priorities of our city, and, perhaps, the most difficult to implement. It is extremely important to be a modern, comfortable, developing city. But my dream as a mayor so that Kazan could rightfully be called a good city where high quality of life created such a format of human relationships when smiling to each other, helping others, caring for the weak would be the norm, not a favor. When respect, generosity, and compassion for fellow citizens would be at the heart of every act”, the head of the city added at the forum opening.

On the question of one of the participants in the forum “When Kazan will become a good city”, he replied:

“As for the timing, it's not a tomato planting. Where there is a seed, there will be a harvest. I have no doubt that there will be one. We start with children. “Diary of good deeds” is very promising, and we did not expect such a feedback from both children and parents. I can tell when they want to please the mayor and write prepared letters, and when they are truly admired. Who would have thought that several sheets of painted paper with few tasks would give such an effect”.

Then I. Metshin urged everyone to visit the Kazan page “Dobro Mail.Ru” instead of Instagram at least once a day.

Factors of charity education in the education system, the role of the media in the development of charity, issues of motivation and support of volunteers, business cooperation, and charitable foundations were discussed at the event. The leaders and specialists of charitable foundations and non-profit organizations of Kazan learned about the tools of fundraising, ways of interaction with the media, grant opportunities for non-profit organizations, storytelling, the features of working in social networks and financial planning.

“Kazan is called the third capital but for me, it is the first for it is my homeland. I very much hope that it will become the first capital in the field of good and complicity in the troubles and problems of a stranger”, said Chulpan Khamatova, an actress and native of Kazan, in a video message (she heads the charity fund “Give a Life” for many years).