Creating a Global

Reno, Nevada, The Biggest Little City in the World, is going to be the first-ever Hopeful City, launching a full, community campaign initiative aimed at teaching the what, why, and how of hope.

Hopeful Cities™

Movement

What we do

Awareness.

Operationalizing hope through science.

Hopeful Cities™ is equipping cities around the world with the tools they need to create, maintain, and grow hope, citywide. It is a marketing plan in action. It operationalizes hope as it creates awareness about the importance of it. It teaches while it talks.

Hope.

Hope is more than a wish, it takes both positive feelings, and inspired actions.

Hopeful Cities™, an iFred project, was created based on research that suggests that hope is a teachable skill. This city-wide movement takes that work, and expands it to those that need it. In the workplace. Community. Schools. At home.

Join the Hopeful Cities Movement!

We are working to activate hope around the world. Hope is measurable, definable, and teachable. All marketing campaign materials are free for all to download and are for use in your own city or business. Get your city activated here.

Get Your City Activated Here

Be sure to sign-up for campaign updates, and reach out if you want to engage.

Government

Science

Education

Workplace

Art

Awareness

“Once you choose hope, anything is possible.”

Christopher Reeve

We want to see how your community is using Hopeful Cities to activate hope. Share your photos, videos, or stories here:

Share Your Story

Check out some of the ways that others are activating hope in their communities:

About

Hopeful Cities is an iFred.org project, started in 2019 in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in collaboration with the City of Reno in Nevada, and is working to activate all cities around the world. iFred is a 501(c)3 aimed at rebranding mental health, through the science of hope and is the first to have operationalized hope free, globally, in the classroom through Hopeful Minds. iFred has taken previous work, and created a global business plan through the Hopeful Cities Playbook to create a Global Movement for Hope.

iFred uses the sunflower and color yellow as international symbols of hope, and asks all around the world to join in the global activation of hope celebrating the first Monday in May as the official day for Hope, and joining in a 5 Day activation campaign of the ‘how to’ of hope. It asks all to paint murals, teach hope in the classrooms, engage workplaces, plant Gardens for Hope, and more. This website provides a comprehensive guide on the ‘how to’ activate, and asks anyone that cares about making communities better.

Learn More

Myron Belfer

“Hope is tangible and teachable, and it is an essential ingredient for a successful life trajectory.”

MD, MPA, Hopeful Minds, Professor of Psychiatry Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School

Kathryn Goetzke

“We’ve got to stop just talking about hope as a wish, as it is much more, and there is a robust scientific field in hope.Hopelessness is both a feeling of despair and a sense of helplessness, so we aim to teach individuals the ‘how to’ of getting from despair to positive feelings, and helplessness to inspired action. And share the resources available of where to go for support if they can’t find it. Hope is always possible, though I will never say easy. Yet always, always possible.”

Founder of iFred, Creator of Hopeful Minds, Author of The Biggest Little Book About Hope and host of The Hope Matrix.

Hillary Schieve

“Now, more than ever, people are feeling incredibly isolated…People have been at home for months on end and our lives have changed,” said Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve during the December 2 Reno City Council and Redevelopment Agency Board Meeting. “I think everyone needs to be at the table…I’m grateful for my entire council to realize the magnitude of this [mental health] epidemic.”

Reno Mayor

Disclaimer

The materials listed in this section are designed to assist you in finding out more about depression. However, they should not be used as a substitute for medical advice, counseling or other health-related services. We are not able to monitor this web site for crisis messages or make referrals.