Mayor Agran Spotlights Irvine’s Kindness

Mayor Larry Agran wants residents to know that Irvine is one of the kindest cities in the entire nation.

During his State of the City speech, Mayor Agran explained: “Living in Irvine, we are America’s most racially and ethnically diverse and completely integrated city. That’s a wonderful statistical fact. We live together, work together, and learn together every day. By all indications and measurements, we do so in remarkable harmony for a big city.”

Agran continued: “From time to time, I examine the records our police maintain regarding hate incidents and hate crimes. Although every reported hate incident or allegation of a hate crime is, of course, taken seriously, I’m pleased that the numbers remain low. I wish I could tell you that we keep records of acts of kindness in Irvine. But we don’t. Probably because they are too numerous to keep track of.”

Since taking office, Mayor Agran has made it a point to publicly thank and spotlight Irvine-based non-profits, community programs, and the City’s churches, synagogues, and mosques for the work they do to promote kindness in our community. The Mayor has also publicly thanked the Irvine business community for encouraging employees to volunteer for local community service projects.

The City of Irvine promotes kindness through a wide array of community-focused initiatives and programs — including child care services, after-school programs, anti-bullying events, holiday toy drives, senior citizen programs, food assistance programs for low-income residents, and a variety of events and services at the Sweet Shade Ability Center. Throughout the year, the City hosts multiple donation drives to help military families from Irvine’s adopted 2/11 Marine Corps Battalion, blood drives to assist our local trauma centers, food drives and harvesting activities to keep Irvine’s food pantries full, and a number of events to support the Irvine Animal Care Center.

The City also brings residents together through free concerts, movies, art exhibitions, and festivals.

Mayor Agran recently connected volunteerism to kindness: “One of the things I value most about Irvine is our shared commitment to helping our neighbors and our community through volunteerism — whether it’s making deliveries for the Meals on Wheels program, leading hikes in the Irvine Open Space Preserve, caring for pets at the Irvine Animal Care Center, joining the City’s Community Emergency Response Team, or helping out at one of our community events. Kindness often involves intentional, voluntary actions to help others or improve their well-being without expecting a reward. As Mayor, I have been fortunate to witness simple acts of kindness by thousands of good people here in Irvine. That’s why I believe that we are already the kindest city in America.”