Dear Small and Mighty Cities:
Yes, What Works Cities Certification Is for You, Too!
An open letter to small cities from Lauren Su, What Works Cities Associate Director of Certification & Community
Dear small and mighty cities:
I get it — fewer cities feel more between a rock and a hard place than you do. With a population under 100,000 — and budget and staff size to match — you and your colleagues often find yourself at cross purposes, wanting to devote time and energy to utilizing data and evidence to drive decision-making but finding that the day-to-day operations of running a city take priority. But you do not need to sacrifice one activity for the other. In fact, understanding how to better use data to drive decision-making in your city goes hand-in-hand with serving your residents efficiently and effectively.
Our What Works Cities Certification program evaluates how well cities are managed by measuring the extent to which leaders incorporate data and evidence in decision-making and how this is leading to results for residents. Since launching our program in 2017, I’ve helped more than 100 cities of all sizes across the United States assess their citywide data practices and identify strengths and weaknesses via the What Works Cities Assessment so that they can better understand how taking a data-informed approach can help them solve their most pressing challenges.
[Learn more about the What Works Cities Certification program in our Q&A—Building a Wellness Plan for Your City: It Starts with Assessing Your Data Health]
Though all U.S. cities with populations of 30,000 and higher are eligible to participate in Certification, you — the cities smallest in population size — are least likely to take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about your current data-driven practices and benchmark your current state of practice by actually completing an Assessment. Maybe you’ve thought about going through the Assessment to better understand your local government’s current data-driven practices, but your immediate thoughts go to all the reasons we commonly hear from your peers as to why cities of your size can’t possibly be more data-driven, let alone make the time to complete an Assessment of current data practices in your local government:
- “We don’t have a culture of using data in our city.”
- “We are just beginning this work, so our practices aren’t advanced enough to get us certified.”
- “We don’t have the staff or financial resources to do this work.”
This line of thinking could not be further from the truth. Building your city’s foundational data practices is a worthwhile investment that will come back to your city tenfold, and any city, regardless of size, can benefit from a data-driven approach to their work. So let’s bust these myths here and now, and begin to treat these situations less like obstacles and more like opportunities to begin governing using data and evidence.
Myth #1: We don’t have a culture of using data in our city.
- Building a data culture takes time and, therefore, is not a prerequisite to starting this work. It all begins with one champion, one office, one team, one department, or agency taking the first step on your city’s data and evidence journey and leading the way. You only need one dataset to begin building your city’s data inventory, one metric to track to see how you are making progress toward a goal, or one identified outcome to achieve data-informed impact in your city.
How we can help: Cities that complete an Assessment receive immediate access to free foundational data courses and learning opportunities offered through the What Works Cities Academy. Participation by you and your colleagues in these self-guided and instructor-led training sessions will deepen the data expertise in your city and ensure everyone is speaking the same language around this work, seeding the beginnings of growing a data culture in your local government.
Myth #2: We are just beginning this work, so our practices aren’t advanced enough to get us certified.
- The journey and process of assessing your city’s current data practices is as important, if not more important, than achieving Certification. Building a data foundation in your city will go a long way in supporting your efforts to meet your strategic goals. But to do so effectively requires knowing where you are starting from so that you can set appropriate and achievable targets for your city to progress toward.
How we can help: What Works Cities provides guidance on the first steps that are right for you as you begin your data and evidence journey. Your city has many issues that could benefit from a data-driven approach, and when you’re starting from scratch, the myriad of choices you could make can be overwhelming. Completing an Assessment gives us the insight we need to help you chart a path forward. We meet you where you are and align our recommendations with the successes your peer local governments have achieved.
Myth #3: We don’t have the staff capacity or budget to do this work.
- Your time and money are limited, so how do you prioritize which programs and policies are worth the investment? Through the Assessment, you will be set up to identify where and how to best use data to deploy your resources or activities more efficiently, which can lead to saving time, increasing capacity, adding revenue, and realizing cost savings — important goals for any budget-conscious local government.
How we can help: Cities that complete an Assessment can benefit from added capacity at no cost by learning from peers and our expert partners in the What Works Cities network. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. If you’re facing a challenge, chances are another city has been through a similar experience. Throughout your What Works Cities experience, you’ll have the chance to connect with peers in local governments across the country — troubleshooting common challenges, sharing successful practices, and learning from one another while also working together to build critical data skills. With support from What Works Cities and your peers, you don’t have to feel alone as you strive to carve out the time and space you need to execute your work and apply these data-driven tools to a specific issue or challenge facing your city.
No matter the size of your city’s staff or budget or level of experience with this work, you can benefit from gaining an understanding of your current data practices and learning how to better leverage data and evidence to serve your residents more effectively and efficiently. What Works Cities is here to help you do just that!
Take the first step on this journey with us, and submit your Assessment today.
And who knows where this decision will lead? Maybe you’ll give your local government the momentum it needs to start a data revolution. Maybe your efforts will lead to increased staff capacity and results for your residents. Or maybe, just maybe, you’ll continue to advance your data practices and become the first small city to achieve Certification.
Your #1 fan,
Lauren Su
Lauren Su is the Associate Director of Certification & Community for What Works Cities. She has had the pleasure of reviewing more than 200 assessments submitted by municipalities, big and small, across the United States and looks forward to assessing your city’s data-driven practices next.
