The City of Raleigh has been awarded the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities certification at the Silver level.
The certification is for establishing exceptional data capabilities to inform policy, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate programs, and engage residents. The What Works Cities Certification standard reflects the practices, policies, and infrastructure municipalities must have to effectively harness data for better decision-making.
Raleigh Receives Silver Level Certification
The What Works Cities Certification standard measures a city’s use of data based on 43 criteria. A city that achieves 51 – 67 percent of the 43 criteria is recognized at the Silver level of Certification, 68 – 84 percent is required to achieve Gold, and 85 percent or more is required to reach Platinum.
“I am proud but not surprised that Raleigh continues to achieve recognition for effectively using data and science to drive outcomes,” said Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell. “I am also proud of our staff and their devotion to developing the data and using it to implement the solutions that improve the lives of our residents. This designation from The Bloomberg Philanthropies is a result of their hard work.”
A notable example of Raleigh’s use of data includes assessed tree distribution citywide to plant 700 new trees in areas with the most need.
“At a time when people are questioning the role of government, and what good government looks like, governments must be better at using data to know what is and isn’t working – and that is what the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification stands for,” said Rochelle Haynes, Managing Director of the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification. “Over 100 cities are now showing what is possible by investing the time, energy, and political capital to shift the culture of how local government works.”
Representing a growing movement of local governments across the Americas investing in data and evidence, the 21 new Certified What Works Cities are: Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, and Winnipeg from Canada; Burlington, Vermont; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Fort Worth, Texas; Newark, New Jersey; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Raleigh, North Carolina; Reno, Nevada; and Savannah, Georgia from the U.S.; Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, and Caruaru, from Brazil; Corrientes, San Nicolás, and Vicente López from Argentina; and Maipú and San Fernando from Chile.