Charlotte Awarded Gold as a Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works City
Published on June 18, 2024
CHARLOTTE, NC (June 18, 2024) – The City of Charlotte has been awarded the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification at the Gold Level for establishing exceptional data capabilities to inform policy decisions, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate program effectiveness, and engage residents. What Works Cities Certification continues to set a standard of excellence for data-informed local government. The standard reflects the practices, policies, and infrastructure municipalities must have in place to effectively harness data for better decision-making. Eighty-three cities have achieved the What Works Cities Certification distinction and more than 170 cities have submitted applications since 2017.
"This recognition is a testament to our unwavering commitment to leveraging data-driven solutions to inform our decision-making processes, allocate resources effectively, enhance the delivery of services to our residents, evaluate the impact of our programs, and foster meaningful community engagement,” said Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. “Through this achievement, we reaffirm our dedication to embracing innovation, transparency, and evidence-based governance, ensuring that every decision we make is grounded in data and focused on improving the lives of all Charlotteans."
The What Works Cities Certification Standard measures a city’s use of data based on 43 criteria. A city that achieves 51–67% of the 43 criteria is recognized at the Silver level of Certification, 68–84% is required to achieve Gold, and 85% or more is required to reach Platinum.
“From pioneering data use to embracing emerging technology to expanding digital infrastructure, this new slate of Certified cities demonstrates what is possible when municipalities raise the bar,” said James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Here at Bloomberg Philanthropies, we know data enables mayors to understand community-level issues, design evidence-based programs that work, and manage results that improve people’s lives, and these local governments are setting the pace for others to follow.”
Representing a growing movement of local governments across the Americas investing in data and evidence, the nine new Certified What Works Cities are Boise, Idaho; Dallas, Texas; Issaquah, Washington; and Sugar Land, Texas, Guatemala City, Guatemala; Las Condes, Chile; Mendoza, Argentina; Porto Alegre, Brazil; and San Pedro Garza García, Mexico.
The four currently Certified cities include Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Carlsbad, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Montevideo, Uruguay.
The What Works Cities Certification program, launched in 2017 by Bloomberg Philanthropies and led by Results for America, is the international standard of data excellence in city governance. The program is open to any city in North, Central, or South America with a population of 30,000 or more.
To learn more about the What Works Cities Certification or to take the Assessment, visit whatworkscities.org.