“CITY OF KINDNESS” campaign kicked off last week at Ocean View School District event. Mayor Barbara Delgleize is sixth from left (City of HB photo).

The City of Huntington Beach wants to be a catalyst of kindness in the United States by inspiring residents, community organizations, schools, and local businesses to help create a kinder, more gracious world.

Mayor Barbara Delgleize last week kicked off this movement by signing a City of Kindness pledge, which was inspired by the 100 Billion Acts of Kindness Resolution drafted and ratified in June 2016 at the 84^th annual U.S. Conference of Mayors. Motivated by the nearly 300 U.S. cities that adopted the resolution, Huntington Beach commits to fostering a culture of kindness and sharing resources to inspire kindness.

“City of Kindness aims to change the culture of every U.S. city through simple, powerful and unsolicited acts of kindness, and we’re signing on to do our part,” said Delgleize. “I encourage everyone to practice kindness daily to make a difference in the lives of your neighbors and set an example for the next generation of leaders we’re raising here in Huntington Beach.”

Delgleize officially kicked off “City of Kindness” at Ocean View School District’s Annual “Employee Welcome Back Event” with nearly 1,000 teachers, administrators and support staff in attendance.

City of Kindness developed an online Kindness Counter as a coordinated way to track progress toward the goal. City of Kindness introduced the Kindness Counter during a special program organized by Born This Way Foundation as part of NBC’s #ShareKindness Experience. Displayed at cityofkindness.org, the master Kindness Counter aggregates all entries nationwide and tallies the total in real time to track the spread of kindness throughout the United States.

After performing an act of kindness, residents and others in the city can go to www.cityofkindness.org to record their act. Huntington Beach’s efforts will be added to the master Kindness Counter’s national count at cityofkindness.org. To generate awareness, participants are encouraged to use the hash tags #HBkindness #cityofkindness and #kindnesscounter.