The II Open forum “Good Kazan. Charity: the regions’ experience” began its work in Kazan

(KZN.RU, 6 December). The II Open forum “Good Kazan. Charity: the regions’ experience” began its work in Kazan. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, opening a forum in the City Hall, noted that the project, created for educational support of Kazan funds a year ago in partnership with Russian experts in the field of charity, aroused great interest in the regions. Charitable funds from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Khanty-Mansiysk, Ulyanovsk, Arkhangelsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Samara, and many others have expressed a desire to participate in the forum this year. In total, about 200 participants from 22 cities of Russia. “We are waiting for the exchange of experience of different regions with great interest and are ready to learn new things, share our practices”, I. Metshin addressed the participants.

Before the forum started, the guests viewed the exhibition of charity projects “Good Kazan”. Ilya Chukalin, the general director of the Presidential Grants Fund, positively assessed Kazan's experience in implementing social projects. He was interested in the project “Diary of Good Deeds”, which has no analog in the country. Alexandra Babkina, the moderator of the plenary meeting, the head of the service Dobro Mail.ru, called today's event in the City Hall a special one. According to her, the event is reaching a completely different quality level.

Ilsur Metshin noted that the “Good Kazan” vector is one of the 12 priorities of urban development. “I am deeply convinced that the moral principle, good neighborliness, and generosity of the citizens play a great role in the development of the city. The development of a charity and volunteerism culture stands in line with the development of the city's infrastructure”, said the Mayor of the city.

He said that this movement began with close communication with charitable funds and organizations. According to the Mayor, this allowed seeing the gaps that require the attention of the authorities. “We are raising the issue of benefits on property tax for families raising disabled children for the next session of the Kazan City Duma. This is a decision that we can take at the municipal level”. This statement was greeted with applause from the forum participants.

Further, the Mayor told about a number of projects implemented together with charitable funds. “We learned that the city has families with experience in raising children with disabilities who have received special education and are ready to raise more children. So our decision to allocate apartments for such “professional” foster families appeared”, said Ilsur Metshin. Three professional families have already moved into new apartments.

Ilsur Metshin told the forum participants that the Russian fund “Vyhod” was interested in the project on the inclusive education of children with autism spectrum disorder that started in this academic year. “We are waiting for the visit of Avdotya Smirnova, the fund’s head, to discuss the possibilities of our cooperation”, said the Mayor.

As an example of successful cooperation, he mentioned the project of the warehouse “Good Hands” from the charity fund “Day of Good Deeds”, within the framework of which the city gave three municipal premises on a gratuitous basis to the fund. “A network of charitable warehouses was formed in the city. Since the beginning of this year, more than 6 thousand Kazan people have brought things to this network, and more than 3 thousand people in need have received them”, said the head of the city.

Ilsur Metshin drew particular attention to the need to develop social volunteering. “We have to properly assess the areas, in which volunteer assistance is most in demand, to create simple and understandable mechanisms for attracting volunteers. I hope that the forum will become a source of new knowledge and ideas for us”, said the Mayor of Kazan.

Ilya Chukalin, the general director of the Presidential Grants Fund, also took part in the plenary session. He told the forum participants in detail about the mechanisms for obtaining presidential grants by charitable organizations.

I. Chukalin noted that the principle of doing something together, voiced by I. Metshin, is important in the work of charitable foundations. “It is important that the regions also support their charitable projects”, said the fund's director. According to him, Tatarstan is among the leaders in this indicator. He urged not to be afraid to participate in the competition for grants.

Participants of the forum were greeted by Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, the chairman of the Public Chamber Commission on the development of the non-profit sector and support of socially oriented NCOs. According to her, it is very important to discuss the charity culture and support initiatives at the regional level. “Kazan is becoming the capital of charity and the development of civic initiatives”, she said.

Ekaterina Chistyakova, the director of the charity fund “Podari Zhizn”, spoke about the problem of interaction of funds. She said that the fund “Podari Zhizn” organized a special prize for other funds for the implementation of projects, and two awards (“People Choice Award” and “Quality of Life”) were given to the Angela Vavilova Kazan Fund.

A. Babkina, the project manager, spoke about the launch of a new project “Mayak” on the service Good Mail.ru. Natalia Remish, the author of the project “Detyam o Vazhnom”, spoke about the need for an upbringing culture in relation to children with disabilities in health.

At the end of the plenary session, Daria Buyanova, the director of the fund “Good City Peterburg”, announced the inclusion of Kazan in the commonwealth of “good cities” and presented Ilsur Metshin with a symbolic “golden key”.

The head of the city awarded the charitable funds “Ak Bars Sozidanie”, “Alpari”, the Charitable Fund for Children and Adults “V Tvoyu Polzu”, and other charity funds.

Ilsur Metshin thanked everyone for their participation. “I hope this forum will be useful for everyone”, marked the head of the city.