On June 17, Results for America announced that nine new cities in the US and Latin America received “What Works Cities” certification for their “exceptional data capabilities”. 

In each case, the cities received a Silver level of certification, which means they meet between 41% and 67% of the 43 criteria that What Works Cities looks for. This is not only an honor for the cities, but also helps other cities that can look to them as models of how to use data to make better policy and funding decisions, improve services, evaluate programs and better connect with residents.

Since its launch in 2017, 170 cities have applied for certification, which slightly less than half have achieved. To apply, a city must have a population of 30,000 or more.

The newly certified US cities are Boise, Idaho; Dallas, Texas; Issaquah, Washington, and Sugar Land, Texas. They are joined by five other cities from Latin America: Guatemala City, Guatemala; Las Condes, Chile; Mondoza, Argentina; Porto Alegre, Brazil and San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico.

“The Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification community continues to grow,” said Rochelle Haynes, managing director of What Works Cities certification. “The program provides continuous expertise for cities to uplevel their efforts, as well as the opportunity do this work alongside peers from across the Americas – forging a future in which data serves as a foundation for how municipalities transform delivery and better outcomes.”

A few examples:

• Dallas, Texas – “disaggregated data to inform budget decisions that address inequities based on race and income.” The result: 42 city departments put together $42 million of equity investments and have established 220 metrics to track equity impact publicly.

• Sugar Land, Texas – Analyzed data on “population stagnation, aging housing and code violations to bolster redevelopment, investing $2.7 million to help residents upgrade 166 homes.

• Guatemala City, Guatamala – Experienced a 44% annual drop in crime over three years when it used data to both target and scale “a public safety and neighborhood revitalization initiative.”

The press release that accompanied the silver certification announcement also includes other examples and notes that four cities – Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Carlsbad, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Montevideo, Uruguay --  that had previously been certified at the silver level are now being moved to “Gold certification”, which means they have met between 68 and 84% of What Works Cities 43 criteria, which are listed on a certification page that describes the assessment process.

You can find all the cities that have been certified since 2017 here, including five that have reached the Platinum level of certification (which mean meeting more than 85% of the What Works Cities assessment criteria.)

#StateandLocalGovernmentPerformanceManagement #StateandLocalGovernmentData #CityDataManagement #CityDataUse #CityDataAnalysis #CityDataGovernance #StateandLocalPerformanceMeasurement #CityGovernmentPerformance #CityMetrics #StateandLocalDataGovernance #WhatWorksCities #ResultsForAmerica #WhatWorksCitiesSilverCertification #BarrettandGreeneInc