“We the People” – It’s about US – Orange County

Civility and Civic Literacy in Action

  • Ellis Island Medal of Honor Ceremony, Costa Mesa, CA
  • National Philanthropy Day - Anaheim, CA. Picture L to R: Ms. Ruth Ding, Ms. Ling Zhang, Mr. Charlie Zhang
  • OCBA Charitable Fund Grant Event

Community Spotlight

Civic Literacy Champion

Rana Rafiekian received special recognition for developing the United We Stand: CCC website and social media strategy. The UWS CCC website contains the Community ToolKits, which are the heart of this unique effort for Orange County to take responsibility for raising the levels of civility and civic literacy in its own community.

“The reason I chose to engage in this project is because I am passionate about serving our community and our country. As a student of Political Science, and the daughter of immigrants, I recognize the importance and value of understanding how our government works, and how vital it is for people to engage in constructive dialogue with one another, even when they disagree.”

Civility Champion – City of Anaheim and Former Mayor Tom Tait

Completing 1,000,000 acts of kindness in a city of about 350,000 residents sounds like an impossibility.  But it happened and it took only two years! In 2013, Mayor Tom Tait announced a “Year of Kindness” to encourage acts of kindness – large and small.  As part of the program, 24 schools in the Anaheim Elementary School District launched The Million Acts of Kindness Initiative and met the challenge, beginning with a simple “Hi, Neighbor” campaign.

In 2015, His Holiness the Dalai Lama celebrated his 80th birthday in Anaheim, by then known as “The City of Kindness.”  Inspired by Anaheim’s experience, in 2016 the U. S. Conference of Mayors urged the nation’s cities, businesses and schools to achieve 100 billion acts of kindness and the City of Kindness Initiative is spreading.  Following these examples, the Orange County Department of Education issued a 1 billion acts of kindness challenge. You can join in – commit an act of kindness and click on http://kindness1billion.org/ to share what you have done.  Encourage your city to become a City of Kindness.  You can find great resources at http://cityofkindness.org/portfolio/kindness-in-your-city/.

Thank you, Tom Tait and the City of Anaheim!