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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2025
CONTACT:
Office of Communications
Results For America Awards City of Savannah With Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification For Exceptional Use of Data
SAVANNAH – Results for America has named the City of Savannah as one of 21 new cities, including the first four in Canada, to have been awarded the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification for establishing exceptional data capabilities.
The What Works Cities Certification standard reflects the practices, policies, and infrastructure municipalities must have in place to effectively harness data that informs policy, allocates funding, improves services, evaluates programs, and engages residents.
The City of Savannah received a Silver-level certification for upgrading 25 parks and recreation centers based on data of conditions and needs, leading to a 40% increase in pool attendance and a 37% increase in youth participation from 2023 to 2024.
The What Works Cities Certification standard measures a city’s use of data based on 43 criteria. A city that meets 51-67% of the criteria earns Silver certification, 68-84% qualifies for Gold, and 85% or more achieves Platinum status.
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.
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.
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About the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification:
The What Works Cities Certification program, launched in 2017 by Bloomberg Philanthropies and led by Results for America, is the first-of-its-kind standard of excellence for data-informed, well-managed local government. What Works Cities Certification recognizes and celebrates local governments for their exceptional use of data to inform policy decisions, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate the effectiveness of programs, and engage residents.
About Results for America:
Results for America is helping decision-makers at all levels of government harness evidence and data to make progress on our greatest challenges. Our mission is to make investing in what works the “new normal,” so that when policymakers make decisions, they start by seeking the best evidence and data available, then use what they find to get better results. For more information, visit results4america.org.